Senate Republicans have now decided to filibuster two MORE critical bills coming out of the House, as well as Senate committees. One bill would amend the Alternative Minimum Tax to give relief to middle-income taxpayers; the other is the energy bill, which would raise federal fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 30 years and set renewable energy portfolio standards.
Their ostensible reasons? On the AMT, it’s because the Democrats propose to pay for middle-income tax relief by repealing some Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy. On the energy, it is supposedly due to the renewable portfolio and because the bill repeals tax cuts for oil companies. But this is just about making the Democrats look bad: these filibusters will break the record for an entire Congress before the first session of this current Congress is even over.
Memo to Harry Reid: Now is the time to force them to filibuster for real. The public is on the Democrats’ side.
This really is pretty simple. The Republicans deny the middle class a tax cut because they are more interested in protecting the $370,000 a year crowd. And they are uninterested in helping protect us from dependence on foreign oil.
The feckless press simply won’t get this unless there are visuals: they will keep maundering on about the Do-Nothing Congress. So: No more fake filibusters. No more bringing in the cots for one night. Make them stand up there day after day and explain why they are stopping a middle-class tax cut and preventing America from starting to move to energy independence. Make them keep saying it–day after day.
Now is the time.