Speaker of the House John Boehner has refused to bring a bill to the House floor to put to bed the ridiculous fiscal cliff mess. A bill that the President could have signed has not been put up for a vote. Boehner's own bill, the so-called "Plan B" bill, would have left tax rates where they are for people making less than $1 million, but Boehner was unable to get a "majority of the majority" to vote for it, so it never came to the floor. In other words, Boehner won't have the House vote on a bill unless he has a majority of Republicans willing to vote for it.
The bill would have passed, however, had it been put up for a vote, because it would have had the support of enough Democrats to put it over the top. More work would have had to be done, of course, as Democrats want a threshold of something along the lines of $250,000-$400,000... but a million would have been a good start. As a result of not even bringing the bill up for a vote, all Americans will have their taxes go up on January 1, the unemployed will be hurt, and there are a number of other things that may plunge the economy back into recession right when it's starting to recover. Christmas sales have already been lower than expected, and the possible plunge off the fiscal cliff is why.
This all because Boehner is more concerned about his career than about what could happen on January 1. See, he's up for a vote to continue as Speaker on January 3. Until then, he most likely won't do anything to avoid the fiscal cliff unless he gets political pressure to do so.
Yep, this is all about one man's career. If your paycheck is lower in January, this is why. Speaker Boehner needs to realize one important thing -- this is not about him and his career. This is about what's best for the continued recovery of the American economy.
By the way, Boehner, last time I looked you were Speaker of the entire House, not just the Republican side. You might want to remember that.
