If tax cuts sent the country into a fiscal tailspin the first time, why not try again?

An Often Procrastinating Congress Is Raring at the Gate

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, NYT

WASHINGTON — It is a maxim in Congress these days: If high-profile legislation affecting millions of Americans is about to expire, deal with it at the last possible second, preferably with rancor.

But a major exception is in the offing with the Bush-era tax cuts, which are set to lapse on Jan 1. Both parties in the House and the Senate are eager, perhaps even giddy, at the prospect of voting for their respective versions of an extension of the cuts this summer, well before the due date.

Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, has said there will be a House vote to extend the entire package before the November election. “We shouldn’t wait until New Year’s Eve,” he said in a speech at a recent fiscal conference, “to give American job creators the confidence that they aren’t going to get hit with a tax hike on New Year’s Day.” Democrats are trying to up the ante. On Wednesday, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, called on the speaker to schedule a vote right away.

“Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire and that we should use the resulting revenues to pay down the deficit,” she said. Senate Democrats are trying to cobble together a measure that would extend the tax cuts for the middle class but drop them for higher earners. Democrats hope the bill will reach the Senate floor this summer.

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