GOP Senator George Voinovich Will Vote Against Any Extension Of Bush Tax Cuts

Retiring Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has broken ground in the Senate by becoming the first to announce that he won't support any extension of the Bush tax cuts -- for middle-class families or the wealthy -- on the grounds that it fails to address serious tax reform or take any real steps toward fiscal austerity.

The Washington Post reports:

"As I look at my experience, I believe that if this thing goes through and we extend it, we will kick this thing down the road," Voinovich said in an interview after addressing an Aspen Institute roundtable in Washington. "It's completely irresponsible."

Democrats are currently engaged in a last-minute battle to reject the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of income earners, but some have suggested that the White House is already in the final stages of mapping out a package that would allow for a temporary across-the-board extension of the cuts in return for GOP support on the reauthorization of unemployment benefits.

Voinovich appears to be the only Republican senator to vocalize -- and certainly to act upon -- his worries that the GOP's insistence on the continuation of such broad tax cuts runs counter to the party's desires to slash spending, balance budgets and tackle the debt. Analysis of the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy alone has run at around $700 billion over the next decade, while the cost of a complete extension would rack up a nearly $4 trillion tab.

"The American people should know that a lot of the reduction of their taxes is borrowed money from China," he said, according to the Post. "You've got to pay for it. You've got to pay for it. You've got to pay for it."

Voinovich continued, saying that private discussions with his Senate colleagues uncovered similar sentiments regarding the costly tax cuts, but many of them were politically inclined to go along with the party line on the issue because of the current poor state of the economy.

Comments

[joeyfoto]

10:00 PM on 12/08/2010

It would be better for the economy to abandon all of the Bush tax-cuts, than to fund this un-stimulative boondoggle for the rich. The bit of austerity in abandoning these tax breaks, will prepare Americans for the upcoming fight over where to tax and where to cut. If there is to be any quality of life for lower-middle-class Americans, the Republicans must loose those fights. If there is to be any future for an independent America, any economic stimulation must be invested in education.

What are the odds that this broken political process will make smart/hard choices for the future of Americans?

[LebronJeremy]

03:27 AM on 12/08/2010

Rush will call him a RINO, and that's exactly what he is. To be a republican, you have to march in lockstep much like the fascists and communists parties.

[Mark Welker]

11:45 PM on 12/07/2010

Well , a republican who is for something until obama says OK , then is totally against .
What a surprise . didn't they pull this during the Healthcare debates ?

by the way , I agree with him . Let all the tax cuts expire . Do the math .
8 million people lost their jobs , 1 million were rehired , two and a half million with unemployment almost at 99 weeks , so they drop off the rolls in the next month or two , and four and a half million 99ers who already have dropped off . That thirteen month extension won't do squat ,Unless they make a tier 5 for everyone.

too little , too late . an extra twenty -50 dollars a week is what it costs the average person for the tax cuts to expire . That 50 is at 75,000 a year . So rich people can make millions . Time to move on .

[joeyfoto]

10:04 PM on 12/08/2010

Who ever sad that these pathetically unjust tax cuts were connected to the extension of unemployment? They are not.

Let all the tax cuts end then force Republicans to vote on the unemployment insurance extension.

The president did not need to cave in on one to get the other. He is simply a weak negotiator.

[Ravenlea]

07:12 PM on 12/07/2010

Al Franken's speech on the tax cuts is eloquent and telling. Really worth hearing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVURyaA9UWY&feature=player_embedded

[joeyfoto]

10:24 PM on 12/08/2010

Some idiotic web practice at HuffPost causes all links to break. I really wanted to see this... so I googled "Al Franken's speech on the tax cuts." All of the YouTube links were broken but I managed to find a transcript of the text of the speech. It was brilliant.

If America had 100 senators of Al Franken's intelligence and integrity — I wouldn't care if they were 50 Democratic liberals and 50 Conservative Republicans — the future of America could work, despite the deep hole the country is in... With Jim DeMint, Mountain Jim Inhofe and John McCain, etc. — no way... not a chance.

[Ravenlea]

10:30 PM on 12/08/2010

Looks like the link is working. Any chance the problem is with your browser? I have the speech posted at my blog (along with a very funny Jon Stewart clip) if you want to try it there. http://ravensviews.blogspot.com/2010/12/daily-reminder-191.html It would be great if there were a lot more like Franken. I have a great Rep. (Maurice Hinchey). He keeps a low profile (as far as I can tell), but he works really hard and takes the right (by me) stand on almost all issues. Every time I write to him I get a response telling me how glad I'll be to know that he is a co-sponsor of...

[joeyfoto]

10:28 PM on 12/08/2010

PS. I forgot to say Thank you. F&F...jt

[harborview2020]

07:07 PM on 12/07/2010

Either a progressiv­­e contender will challenge, and defeat, Obama in the 2012 Democratic Primaries, or a Third Party contender will be on the final ballot and win the support of progressiv­­es.

Obama doesn't deserve reelection­­. Why? The Gulf oil spill (turns out, oil rigs DO cause spills); the expanded "forever" War in Afghanista­­n, (killing our young, depleting our treasure, degrading our society); no equal-pay bill for women; no public option, no access for immigrants­­, no cost controls (but hundreds of billions from Medicare to pad corporate bottom lines).

Finally, today's $4,000 Billion foreign loan "compromis­­e" (the money will presumably come from China, we certainly don't have it!), falsely labeled as "Bush-Obam­­a Tax Cuts"!

This isn't free money - it's money our kids and grandchild­­ren will find on their credit cards for the next 30 years! It will be paid for by future cuts in education, anti-pover­­ty programs, and infrastruc­­ture investment - it will further degrade our society!

That’s why this deal represents the height of political, fiscal, and moral irresponsi­­bility!

Our times are rapidly changing. Twelve to eighteen months in a failing empire, and an unraveling society, is a long time. No one can predict where our country will be by the 2012 elections.

But I will make one prediction­­: Barack Obama will not be our next President.

If Congressio­­nal Democrats are foolish enough to approve these Bush-Obama tax cuts, and if Obama is re-nominat­­ed for office in 2012, he will lead the entire Party into disaster!

[samilli3]

05:29 PM on 12/07/2010

what if the GOP played Obama...what if this is a step to prepare the GOP for 2012. some of the GOP statesmen will vote against this measure to attract unhappy Dem supporters of the President...

[IncludeMeOut]

06:09 PM on 12/07/2010

I was thinking the same thing

[City of Evil]

06:42 PM on 12/07/2010

Not gonna happen. Cutting taxes for the rich is what the Republicans were hired to do - everything else is incidental. Voinovich is retiring, that's the only reason he can afford to do this now.

[Fotios]

05:19 PM on 12/07/2010

Voinovich voted against both Democratic versions of the tax bill - the one extending the tax breaks for people making under $250K and the one extending tax breaks for people making under a million.

He may walk the walk, but he is the only person who doesn't want to renew any of the tax breaks, so there is no walk for him to walk aside from supporting the GOP position to stop the Dems.

[City of Evil]

06:43 PM on 12/07/2010

Didn't he also vote for these tax breaks when they were first put in?

[tnlcallen]

05:03 PM on 12/07/2010

this guy is on his way out, and speaks truth. Get rid of all of them.

[Busbydav]

04:50 PM on 12/07/2010

So Voinovich is ready to break with the GOP and we were lead to believe that this cave in to the demands to republican leadership was necessary. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhht.

[WFTomba]

03:42 PM on 12/07/2010

The Bush tax cuts were ill-conceived from the start, but I don't see why there's any urgent need to let them expire now. Balancing the budget should not be a high priority in the middle of a terrible employment slump.

Therefore I have no problem with Obama's compromise on this issue. I am annoyed at his weakness on a number of other issues, but not on this one.

What I really wish the Democrats would do is propose a one-year payroll tax holiday. I'd like to see the Republicans squirm as they try to explain their opposition to that.

[StopMakingSense2]

01:54 PM on 12/07/2010

They can only speak the truth when they are not running for office anymore. What does that say about the system!

[joeyfoto]

04:01 PM on 12/07/2010

StopMakingSense2 wrote: "They (politicians) can only speak the truth when they are not running for office anymore. What does that say about the system!"

It says that America's politicians believe that the voters are too stupid or too cowardly to hear the truth, so they tell them the lies they want to hear.

Can't blame politicians for making a hard judgement based upon generations of experience. They have learned what works. You can't sell truth to the fool who won't hear it.

It is interesting that voters blame politicians for lying to them, when they insist upon it.

[PhDcommonsense]

01:44 PM on 12/07/2010

Thank you Sen. Voinavich, a Republican who still cares about the Country. Where are the rest of them. The Current Leadership and the Pseudo - Leader, Sarah Palin are totally out ouf their minds.

The President insists on giving the Republicans the Gun to shoot him.

Who is working for the Good of the Country?

Let the Republicans explain, why they would rather kill the the countlry economically to enhance the Rich, who have faired so well over the last 10 years, that the rest of the economy was brought to NEAR ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, and the Republicans want to keep that going.

[pindiva]

01:36 PM on 12/07/2010

Face it.

If the Repubs were to have their way, the tax cuts would expire as originally intended, on income below $250K but would be renewed for income above $250K.

Unemployment insurance would not be extended, and there would not be any temporary reduction in payroll taxes.

So they feel they did not get a good deal, and the heck with the American citizens.

[towny]

01:03 PM on 12/07/2010

Thank you!

[jasev01]

12:33 PM on 12/07/2010

good for him excellent