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United States News Title: Tax Deal Is Shaping 2012 GOP Campaign (Palin/Romney vs. Huck/Newt/Pawlenty) WASHINGTON—The tax deal now before Congress has kicked off the first real debate of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign, with several prospective candidates heralding the package as a victory for taxpayers and others criticizing it as a costly stimulus bill in disguise. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have both come out sharply against the measure, which President Barack Obama hammered out last week with Senate Republican leaders. Both cite the deal's price tag, with Mr. Romney saying it will heap billions more onto the nation's debt load. Supporting the package are former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, all of whom praise the deal as good for the economy and the only way to spare Americans the jolt of a sudden tax increase that otherwise would take effect on Jan. 1. The debate suggests an early line of cleavage among the potential 2012 Republican aspirants on the key issues of taxes and government spending. The tax package was expected to win final passage in the Senate at midday Wednesday and advance to the House, which could take it up as early as Wednesday afternoon. In opposing the deal, Ms. Palin and Mr. Romney are aligning themselves with several large tea-party groups that see the tax deal as a betrayal of the Republican Party's pledge during the last election to slash spending and attack the deficit. By opposing their party's own leaders in Congress, who negotiated the package with Mr. Obama, the two also appear intent on shoring up their outsider, anti- Washington credentials. Those supporting the deal reflect a wider Republican sentiment: that any tax cut is good and should be embraced, even if it is part of a bill that causes heartburn on other fronts. Mr. Gingrich, for example, is calling the package "a major breakthrough'' and a dividend of the GOP victories in November. Differences between the two camps were on display on the Senate floor Tuesday. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, another potential 2012 GOP contender, took a shot at critics in a speech, saying it was "politically expedient" for them to undermine the proposal. But "advocating against this tax proposal is to advocate for a tax increase," Mr. Thune said. He didn't mention Mr. Romney by name, but appeared to be responding to a newspaper op-ed by the former Massachusetts governor published Tuesday. Other potential 2012 candidates have been more hesitant in their praise for a deal that will extend the Bush-era tax breaks for two years, extend an array of expired tax credits and give most workers a one- year cut in the payroll tax. The deal, which will also extend jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, is projected to cost $858 billion over the next 10 years. Messrs. Huckabee and Pawlenty have portrayed the compromise as the best that one could expect from a Democratic-controlled lame duck Congress. They said the deal is crucial to avoid the jolt of a tax increase and the risk of a double-dip recession. "It's better than leaving businesses in complete limbo over the tax rates, and it's good news for those who were wondering what the tax code was actually going to be," Mr. Huckabee said Tuesday in an email. Critics of the deal have highlighted its cost and the sense that the compromise cuts against the GOP's election promises to slash spending. Ms. Palin expressed her opposition to the bill in a series of Twitter messages that warned Republicans against the perils of compromising with Mr. Obama. The divisions within the potential 2012 field mirror a similar fissure among Republicans in Congress. A sizable majority of GOP lawmakers appears ready to support the deal. But a faction of congressional conservatives and tea-party groups has blasted it as a betrayal of the limited-government message that helped catapult Republicans to victory in last month's election. Democratic pollsters say the tax compromise is helping Mr. Obama win back independent voters, a key part of his strategy to win reelection in 2012. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the Senate vote "demonstrates the broad bipartisan support that the agreement enjoys not just in the Senate but with the American people." The package cleared a key procedural hurdle Monday when 83 senators voted in favor, including 37 Republicans. Only five Republicans voted against it. Several prominent conservative columnists and radio personalities, including Rush Limbaugh, have lashed out at the compromise as a high-priced victory for Mr. Obama, even as the president has come under sharp attack from liberals for agreeing to extend tax breaks for higher incomes and large inheritances. The package has stirred anger in tea-party circles, where many groups are on guard for any hint that Republicans may be shifting away from the austerity pledges the party made during the 2010 campaign. Some note that the bill includes not only an extension of the Bush tax cuts, which they favor, but a series of "sweeteners''—including extensions of clean-energy tax breaks—designed to build support among Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican and the only House member so far expressing interest in a 2012 run, said Tuesday night that he had decided to oppose the bill because of its cost. "The American people did not vote for more stimulus, they did not vote for more deficits, they did not vote for more debt, they did not vote for more uncertainty," he told Sean Hannity on Fox News. In his critique, published Tuesday in USA Today, Mr. Romney lashed out at the tax bill as a hodgepodge of temporary tax extensions and spending provisions that will add to the nation's debt load while providing little certainty for U.S. business. Mr. Romney joins a number of other GOP critics who say the Republicans should drop the compromise they hatched with Mr. Obama and return to the issue next month, when the party will assume control of the House and have seven more seats in the Senate. That way, they argue, Republicans could push to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and try to include spending cuts as part of the bill.
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#1. To: go65 (#0)
For the past three days Bloomberg: Senate likely to pass tax bill today. 8D
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