GOP Senators Supported Obama Tax Credit They Now Oppose

A group of ten Republican senators wrote to President Obama in February in support of the very tax credit program they now oppose, Bloomberg News reports.

The letter, on Senator Orrin Hatch's (R-UT) website, and signed by 10 senators including Hatch, asks the president to "embrace" an extension of the research tax credit, saying that would lead to job creation, new investment in high-tech industry, an increase in the amount of new patents and, they claim, a $90 billion boost to the annual GDP. "We urge you to help us enact a strong research incentive to keep us first in the world by endorsing the strengthening of the credit as well as its extension," the letter reads.

Earlier this month, Obama proposed a version of that very program as part of his new package of economic stimulus initiatives.

And yet, Hatch, the lead signatory on that letter, said Obama's plan would be "job killing."

"I don't think anyone believes an administration that created these problems is going to be able to come up with effective solutions to get us out of them," he told the Salt Lake Tribune in response to the president's proposal. "That's like putting Bernie Madoff in charge of fixing your company's broken accounting system."

Bloomberg points out that in 2008, House minority leader John Boehner endorsed a plan, according to the congressman's website, to allow businesses to get a tax credit for "tangible property in the year it is purchased." Again, it's practically the same plan Obama proposed this month, which Boehner is now opposing.

Republicans have, for the most part, avoided engaging directly with the proposed tax credits, dismissing them on the basis that an extension of the Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy is more urgent. Boehner said Obama is "missing the big picture."

"There's tremendous pressure on the Republican leadership, since things look so favorable for picking up seats, not to give the Democrats some type of advantage," Lee Edwards, of conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation, told Bloomberg.

Comments

[SaneThoughts]

04:34 PM on 09/30/2010

Republican flip-flop!

[clemmers]

10:36 AM on 09/23/2010

Hey! I agree with Hatch for once.

He said "I don't think anyone believes an administration that created these problems is going to be able to come up with effective solutions to get us out of them".

Best argument ever for voting Republicans out of office.

[wecanonlyhope]

07:30 AM on 09/23/2010

It just wouldn't feel like a good day if they didn't SAY NO to something.

[stargazer13]

04:05 AM on 09/23/2010

in 2012 he is up for reelection and is worried!! so guess what he is doing now!! making nice with the tea party !! Hatch tea party will not save you !!

if there be any justice left in Utah !!

[UNCLEJOE]

12:03 AM on 09/23/2010

INCINERATING AMERICA
When I was a child in1930, I lived in a neighborhood of Sicilian Immigrants, who owned their own homes with mortgages paid off in a few years, working jobs averaging $40 weekly as stevedores, musicians, barbers, factory workers, Tailors, salesmen, and construction builders. The ratio of earnings between the boss and his workers was around 30 to One.

One man supported a family of four or more and only worked 40 hours a week from 8-5 while the wife stayed home and took care of the children. They saved enough to send their children to college and had SS Security for their retirement and their grandparents lived in the same house.

Today it takes two parents to care for one child and very often working two jobs per day.
Today the workers ratio of pay to his boss is 300 to One.

This is not the social structure that made America the Leading Industrial nation in history.

Today's Social Structure has changed considerably and this reduced Social Structure has turned us into a Third Rate Nation where Citizens die by the hundreds of thousands from lack of basic medical care, malnutrition, violence, drunk driving, suicides and unnecessary wars created by the Oil Companies, and die of the pollution caused by fossil fuels.

Today America is a Third Rate Nation despite the Unlimited wealth of the One Percent of the population who are bankers and investors.

The Federal Reserve Bank Investors Conquered America without firing a shot.

[stargazer13]

04:07 AM on 09/23/2010

The Federal Reserve Bank Investors Conquered America without firing a shot.
yes but can they keep it ???????

[UNCLEJOE]

05:31 AM on 09/23/2010

The Fed is well entrenched by complicating its structure with 12 branches intertwined with many subsidiaries and private investments in countless other corporations, but there is a viable way of getting rid of the Fed without disrupting the national or international monetary system.

[Geegs]

11:00 PM on 09/22/2010

Reminds me of the song which was sung by the politician (governor) in the show "The Best Little Wh*rehouse in Texas" -- no matter the question, the governor side-stepped the issue and avoided telling the truth.

How about it, GOP? How about telling the truth -- even if just this once!

[UNCLEJOE]

04:23 PM on 09/22/2010

We senior citizens have no excuse for allowing the control of our government to slip from our hands after WW II.

While we were enjoying the prosperity of those post WW II years, we fell into a political apathy, while a small group of foreign bankers colluded decades before in an insidious plan to conquer and control our country by controlling our Monetary System which is the Jugular vein of our government. The Federal Reserve Charter passed by a small minority of Congressmen on December 24, 1913 gave them that awesome power.

This Group is called, The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed). which is neither a part of our government nor a bank.

How do we get back control of our government? Revoke the Federal Reserve Charter of 1913.

[G52]

07:42 AM on 09/23/2010

Agree!

[inspjoe]

03:37 PM on 09/22/2010

This in a nutshell proves without a shadow of dought the this is the party of NO

[supergenius02]

02:12 PM on 09/22/2010

The banks did nothing wrong here. Stephan and his serving department did. The moratorium only delays the inevitable because those foreclosure docs only ended up on his desk because mortgage borrowers failed to pay their mortgage payments as they contractually agreed and the foreclosure process was on. Banks then sent their business to Stephan's company in good faith to process the foreclosure paperwork. The same banks can simply do this inhouse or send the same files to another company and the foreclosure process for a file is back on again in a short time.

If this story is correct, Stephan and his department's actions were horrendous. One person can't review documents and sign 10,000 times a month plus these docs required them to be notarized which requires the notary signature, a seal and logging the action in a ledger which is pretty much impossible at this volume and staffing. I can't believe that such a process only had one person with signing authority for a company that big. Makes no sense.

[Revee]

12:23 PM on 09/22/2010

"I don't think anyone believes an administration that created these problems is going to be able to come up with effective solutions to get us out of them," he told the Salt Lake Tribune in response to the president's proposal. "That's like putting Bernie Madoff in charge of fixing your company's broken accounting system."

How outrageous! He is conveniently blaming our current situation ENTIRELY on Obama. Right! I am going to trust Orin Hatch to get us out of this trouble!!! If people are going to reward the GOP because of such short memories - we will deserve the government we get.

[comicpro]

12:14 PM on 09/22/2010

Shocking just shocking!!!!!

[caymen]

12:06 PM on 09/22/2010

Can you say "flip-flop"?

[Imno Genius]

11:51 AM on 09/22/2010

It's funny how so many of these issues were never raised until a black family moved into the WHITE House! Time to tell it like it is, Geniuses.

[hrc04]

11:31 AM on 09/22/2010

Its a good thing I'm not president...I would have smacked a GOP senator all up in the mouth a LONG time ago.

[SpinDizzy]

10:45 AM on 09/22/2010

>>"There's tremendous pressure on the Republican leadership, since things look so favorable for picking up seats, not to give the Democrats some type of advantage,"

Yeah -- like doing something to help the American people. Disgusting.