In Walz uses outside sergeant voice to push petition to force middle-class tax cut vote, Bluestem wrote about the Mankato congressman's petition to make the House vote on the Senate's bill extending Bush-era tax
levels for middle class Americans, while allowing rates to rise for the wealthy.
Sunday, the conservative Washington Times reported in House Democrats petition for a vote on tax-cut extension:
Looking to break the “fiscal cliff” gridlock, House Democrats are attempting to use a “discharge petition,” a little-known procedural move, to get around Speaker John A. Boehner and force a House vote on extending the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone except individuals making $200,000 and more and couples making $250,000.
Such a vote would give Republicans who want to abandon the speaker and the GOP “no-higher-tax-rates” position a chance to buck party leaders and cut their own deal with Democrats to avert the “fiscal cliff” — the automatic spending cuts and tax increases that will take effect in January.
No Republicans have signed or said they would sign the petition, but Democrats are optimistic they can find more than two dozen GOP lawmakers needed to send the stalled bill to the floor for a vote — especially if negotiations between the president and Mr. Boehner remain stalled.
Walz asked his colleagues again today to sign the petition, and this time, he's really pissed--on behalf of Americans who are tired to watching what he calls "kabuki" while nothing gets done.
Here's his speech today (transcript followed by video):
“Mr. Speaker, my discharge petition at the desk is really an approach that the American people spoke loudly in. Every single one of us just came through an election and the message was abundantly clear to me. Why do you continue to bicker? Why do you continue to stand on the floor and make these ridiculous kabuki dance statements with one another, when it shouldn't be that difficult?
“We came out of a Constitutional Convention, and when they asked James Madison what the secret to this new government was; compromise, compromise, compromise. Mr. Speaker, to sit here and do what we're doing, not bringing this forward and releasing the tension on the middle class, making sure the economy knows there's stability amongst taxes, is holding our economy back, and to be very honest it's insulting to the American people.
“This is a nation that won two world wars. This is a nation that split the atom. This is a nation that put a man on the moon. This is a nation sending pictures back from mars and curiosity. You know what? Sign the discharge petition, bring it to the floor, get 435 votes, put it online for 24 hours, send it to the president and by three o’clock tomorrow a big chunk of the fiscal cliff is done.
“Don’t insult the people with things that aren't true, don't tell them that it's not about compromise, and don't sit here and pretend like we're working when we're not. They know better, they're smarter, they deserve better.
“Bring the discharge petition to the floor, allow Members to vote for it, give the American people what they want; stability and a Congress that works, and let's move on to other pressing issues. I yield back.”
Photo: Tim Walz.
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