$56 Billion in Tax Cuts Passed by House, 234-197
By Jonathan Weisman Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 9, 2005; Page A06
The House approved yesterday $56 billion in tax cuts that would keep alive the deep reductions in the tax rates on dividends and capital gains passed in 2003, but the measure is certain to be challenged by senators who have so far balked at the tax cuts for investors.
The bill passed largely along party lines, 234 to 197, after a rancorous partisan debate over whether the tax cuts would chiefly benefit the rich or sustain economic growth. Nine Democrats joined 225 Republicans for passage, while three Republicans -- Reps. Sherwood L. Boehlert (N.Y.), Jim Leach (Iowa) and Fred Upton (Mich.) -- sided with 193 Democrats and independent Bernard Sanders (Vt.) to oppose it.
The tax measure's cost would more than offset the savings in a tough budget approved by the House last month, which would trim federal spending by $50 billion over five years by imposing new fees on Medicaid recipients, squeezing student lenders, cutting federal child-support enforcement and paring the food stamp rolls.
Democrats charged that those spending cuts, largely affecting programs for the poor, are making way for tax cuts mainly for the rich that would increase the federal budget deficit. "The poor suffer, the rich benefit. The middle class is paying the bill," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).  But the centerpiece of the bill is the extension, through 2010, of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts, which lowered the tax rate on investment income to 15 percent, from as high as 38.5 percent. This extension alone is projected to cost $20.6 billion over five years and $50.8 billion over 10 years.  (submitted by Michael Morrow PCCFF/AFT/AFL-CIO/Local 2277 "Michael W. Morrow")