WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – House Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi announced Friday her intention to launch a petition to demand a House vote on taxes, which the Republican majority refuses.
The Democratic camp is thus seeking to break the deadlock in its discussions with the Republicans on tax cuts, one of the points of contention that are hindering negotiations between the two camps on the budget.
To succeed in this risky gamble, the Democrats, in the minority with 192 seats in the House of Representatives, would need to attract 25 or 26 Republican elected officials with them, but it is hard to see so many dissidents challenging the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner.
The Senate, where Democrats hold a majority, voted this summer in favor of extending the tax cuts decided under the presidency of George Bush, with the exception of those benefiting the wealthiest.
John Boehner refused a vote on the measure, which he considered harmful to businesses and the economy.
Nancy Pelosi said she would present the request on Tuesday, unless Republicans had scheduled a vote in the meantime.
In the absence of a bipartisan agreement on the budget, all the tax cuts of the Bush era will end in early 2013 and at the same time, automatic cuts will take place in public spending as part of the agreement on raising the debt ceiling negotiated in the summer of 2011.
The convergence of these two events—collectively referred to as the “fiscal cliff”—could cost the U.S. economy $600 billion and plunge the country into recession. (Thomas Ferraro; Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French service)
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