policies that were going to be good for the economy at that point. unemployment insurance extensions, payroll tax extensions, all of which made a difference and is part of the reason why what we have seen is 32 consecutive months of job growth and over 5.5 million jobs created and the unemployment rate coming down. but what i said at the time, it is what i meant. this was a one-time proposition. what i have told leaders privately as well as publicly, is that we cannot afford to extend the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. what we can do is make sure that the middle-class taxes don t go up. so the most important step that we can take right now, i think the foundation for a deal that helps the economy and create
only with conditions. including the deal must include an extension of unemployment benefits. caroline shively with new reaction from washington. tell us what have you heard? what is next? right now at this hour they re furiously working on a deal. no one thought the democrats proposals would pass yesterday but all sides, senate dems, and white house think they can get an agreement through in the coming days before congress breaks for christmas. dems wanted the tax cuts to continue for everyone but wealthiest. couples making over $250,000 was one ro pose sal and over $1 million was the other. but the republicans said as bad as the economy is, you don t want to tax people with potential to create new jobs. here is senator mitch mcconnell talking about how they re getting close. the american people expect us to work together to make sure the taxes don t go up. we re working on the package. we ve had more conversations in the last two weeks than in the last two years and i think we ll
election. we ve got some tough things. business is looking for certainty on the tax cuts. if you can reach compromise between the congress and the white house, it would be good for everybody, and i would hope that would happen. they postponed the budget, it s going to be a continuing resolution again, we re not moving appropriation bills, i think the american people expressed their dissatisfaction with the way congress and the white house is operating, and they want to see people start doing some of the things they need to do. jon: yeah, everybody wants to see that, ron, but especially in washington you don t get a lot done around the holiday season, do you? no, you really don t. and they call it lame duck congress because not much is done during this period. there are a lot of symbolic votes the democrats want to try to push onto the senate floor, but they know it s not going to get to the president s desk. if real thing that matters, as we said, are the expiring tax rates because b
election. democrats want to extend the tax cuts for only the middle class while republicans want the cuts to remain in effect for all americans including the wealthiest. senate majority leader harry reid decided not to proceed without having the 60 votes he needs to break a republican filibuster. republican senator orrin hatch said it was unfortunate that politics has gotten in the way of making sure the american people s taxes don t go up. government lawyers are trying to stop a federal judge from issuing an injunction that would immediately halt the military s ban on openly gay troops. yesterday the justice department filed an objection to judge virginia phillips ruling earlier that said don t ask, don t tell is unconstitutional. lawyers argue that the judge would be overstepping her bounds by hauling a policy that is under debate in congress. now it s up to judge phillips to decide if she will issue an injunction to force an end to
since world war ii. this is an important thing to accomplish. i wish they wouldn t have put all that spending in there. it detracts from the main purpose of the bill. of course loads it up. not the package i would have negotiated. overall we need to make sure those taxes don t go up. greta: you talk about spending they put in. one is extension of the unemployment benefits. the only reason that is interesting to me, because they don t look for waste where they might be able to finance those unemployment benefits. i realize they didn t know they were going to need to extend them. nonetheless, there is no effort in this city ever to look for waste or trying to pick up expenses before spending more. that s right. of course, as we speak they announced tonight they ve got this massive other spending bill that s got needed things in it. loaded up once again with earmarks and pork. the ted kennedy institute. john murtha center.