Well it appears that the DO NOTHING SENATE Democrats have finally dislodged their heads from their hind-sides and agreed to the last of the SEVERAL FY2012 (ends actual Calendar, Sept. 2012) Omnibus Appropriations Bills and sent it (at the very last minute, again; they always pull this BS; as the latest CR, the seventh in a row, was to expire in less than 24 hours) to the House so as to avoid the need for an eighth CR; CR’s spanning more than two years; or have a Government Shutdown! These Omnibus Appropriations Bills “supposedly” have “reductions” in them from the FY2011 Budget (remember those pitiful little Debt Ceiling “reductions” compromises – forget the Stupid, er, Super Committee failure auto-triggered “cuts” those are ignored entirely until later), but we’ll have to see over the next few days just what these “supposed” reductions are, but you can be certain they won’t be real/actual “CUTS” to anything. This paves the way, if the POTUS signs these Bills, for the Congress to FINALLY be caught up from all the back-loaded Budget business of the last Democrat controlled House and still Democrat controlled Senate and to move onto the FY2013 Budgets (where we can start this bull all over again), at least where the Legislative calendar is supposed to be at! Rest assured, the same tired “Do Nothing Republicans” rhetoric will come from House Democrats to bolster Obama’s re-election strategy will be flying but, to anyone that bothers to tune into C-SPAN can readily see, it was the DO NOTHING DEMOCRAT SENATE that has been holding up the business of the U.S. Congress all this year. The House passed Bill after Bill that sat in the Senate then, of course, after waiting until the last minute to see if the Government Shutdown threats would get the Republican House to cave into yet higher Spending levels, the Senate Democrats saw they would NOT get Public opinion on their side forcing a Shutdown or yet another CR and FINALLY did their jobs! All this depends on no-one backing out on promised votes that will assure the passage of these 7 or 8 Bills throught the House/Senate and POTUS signature.

Payroll Tax cut deal (with Keystone XL pipeline) set…
TAGS: Obama-nomics, “Keystone XL pipeline”, snookered

Wow, here’s more great work (sarcasm) by the GOP House/Senate Leadership. To get the following for 2 months and putting it right back into the forefront during the 2012 campaign and therefore to allow the Demoncrats BS to demagogue the issue with the ‘Republicans only really want Tax cuts for the wealthy” BS and/or to put forth a CINO concept that Democrats are for Tax Cuts (yeah, right, tax pandering to those who already don’t pay Federal Income Tax). Yes, the Keystone pipeline aspect is wonderful, but Obama wanted it anyway to placate his Union base and NOW the GOP gives Obama the excuse to give his Enviro-whacko base that it was forced on him (the usual, talking out of both sides of his hind-side)…..

see the whole YahooNEWS/Reuters story at: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-agree-2-month-payroll-tax-cut-extension-003819166.html

Divided lawmakers muster modest tax deal

By Donna Smith and Richard Cowan | Reuters ? 8 hrs ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Deeply divided U.S. lawmakers on Friday eked out an agreement to extend payroll tax cuts for just two months, and only after Democrats bowed to Republican demands on a controversial oil pipeline.

The deal, which still needs approval of the full Senate and House of Representatives, fell far short of President Barack Obama‘s push for a one-year extension of the tax relief and long-term unemployed benefits to boost the country’s fragile economic recovery.

The surprisingly modest accord will likely do nothing to dispel concerns of American voters and investors of deep dysfunction in the U.S. capital. It also creates more uncertainty about Washington’s ability to steer the nation through global economic turbulence.

Partisan rancor has derailed efforts to forge a deficit reduction plan, brought the government to the brink of a shutdown three times this year and led to a downgrade of by Standard & Poor’s of the United States’ coveted AAA credit rating in August.

Democrats did not come close to getting the legislation they initially sought, but they put a brave face on the deal they agreed to, saying it gives them another opportunity early next year to fight for a payroll tax cut for wage earners and tax hikes on the wealthy to pay for it — two arguments that play well with Democratic voters.

It was not clear how Friday’s deal would affect Obama, but he has faced persistent criticism from his base of liberal-leaning voters for caving in to Republican demands on policy issues ranging from tax hikes and spending cuts to environmental protections.

“At one minute to midnight and the end of the year the Democrats appear to have conceded two significant issues on the payroll tax cut and they got a measly two months extension in return,” David Gergen, an adviser to two former Democratic and two Republican presidents, told Reuters.

To try to break a stalemate in the payroll tax cut negotiations, Obama’s fellow Democrats first dropped their proposal to pay for it with a surtax on millionaires. Then on Friday they abandoned what had appeared to be a non-negotiable demand — for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas to be kept separate from the payroll tax cut issue.

The measure would require Obama to make a decision on allowing construction of Keystone within 60 days or declare that “oil trade with Canada is not in the national interest of the United States,” according to an aide to Republican Senator Richard Lugar.

BATTLE RESUMES IN NEW YEAR

Obama recently put off a decision on the pipeline until 2013 while the government studies alternative routes. Many interpreted that move as a way to appease his environmental base in his bid to win re-election in November 2012.

The deal immediately drew fire from environmentalists, who said it was an example of House Republicans holding the federal government hostage on behalf of the oil industry.

“We’re disappointed that the president seemingly signed off on this deal, but we expect that he’s going to live up to his promise … that he will turn down the permit for the pipeline,” said Daniel Kessler, spokesman for Tar Sands Action, a group that opposes the project.

Kessler said he expected members from his group would reprise their protests about the project at Obama’s campaign offices across the country.

In a defense of what appeared to be a major concession to Republicans, an Obama administration official said the deal would effectively mean the Keystone project would not go ahead.

The official noted that the State Department has said it could not make a decision on the project within 60 days and any attempt to force its hand would likely result in a decision to deny a permit for the project.

But on Capitol Hill, Republicans were quick to tout the deal as a major coup.

“I think the Keystone pipeline component is certainly a very large victory,” said Republican Senator Bob Corker.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters: “We extended the payroll tax holiday as far as we could get credible payfors to pay for it.” He added, “We’ll be back discussing the same issues in a couple of months.”

That would mean another contentious battle in the midst of the 2012 primary season, which kicks off on January 3 in Iowa.

“If Republicans want to be back here in two months trying to explain why they don’t want to give middle class families a tax cut yet again, that’s their choice, we’re happy to have that conversation,” a Democratic aide said. “We feel that’s a home turf game for us.”

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Read more of the YahooNEWS/Reuters story at: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-agree-2-month-payroll-tax-cut-extension-003819166.html