Democrats won't let vote occur on keeping tax rates low

Obama has frequently attacked Republicans for wanting to "Cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires" (he claimed this in Cleveland, Ohio on September 8 and at his press conference on September 10 ("they're insisting we’ve got to give tax relief to millionaires and billionaires to the tune of about $100,000 per millionaire")). Of course, this is really a question of whether one wants to raise taxes. The New York Times notes: "It also raised a political risk for Democrats that they would be seen as wavering on one of President Obama’s signature campaign promises and abandoning a fight that could have mobilized the party’s base ahead of the elections."

After all that we now find that Democrats won't let Congress hold a vote on stopping the tax increase.

Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama made the proposal to extend the middle-class tax breaks a centerpiece of their midterm campaign strategy. They now face the possibility their members are vulnerable to Republican charges that they have failed to prevent taxes from rising for almost everyone. . . . .

A similar statement here from Politico:

Indeed, Democrats were locked in an internal back-and-forth debate over the political consequences of holding a vote before the Senate adjourns next week for a one-month campaign sprint ahead of a difficult Election Day. Most Senate Democrats steadfastly believe that they are on the right side of public opinion: that tax cuts should be extended for all income levels expect for families making more than $250,000. But some fear that Republicans would use the vote to make the case that Democrats are out to raise taxes in the middle of a recession – at a time when voters are giving Democrats poor grades on their handling of the economy. . . .

The internal Democratic debate over the vote’s timing generally broke along ideological lines, with some of the more liberal senators seeking a vote now and some moderates asking for the party to hold off until a post-election lame-duck session. But it’s been complicated by the fact that six Democrats are facing tough reelection battles, and several of those members are worried about any sort of tax vote before November. . . .

Making the calculations even trickier for Democratic leaders is their expectation that they’d get even more votes after the elections since they expect to lose some wavering moderates – like Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) – if they were to have the vote now. That would potentially lock those wavering senators into a position, preventing them from voting with their party when they’re freer to do so after November. . . .

Do you think that Democrats have something to hide about how they want to vote?

Several senators said the issue should absolutely wait until after the midterms, including Sen Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

"You have to remove the politics from this. I think both parties like the politics of it. My view is, this should not be a political issue. This does have implications for our economy, for our recovery. We don't need to play politics with this," Pryor said. . . .