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Which Senators Voted to Indefinitely Hold US Citizens Without Trial? « Psilomelane

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Which Senators Voted to Indefinitely Hold US Citizens Without Trial? « Psilomelane.

The United States Senate has voted to keep provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act which allow for United States citizens suspected of terrorism to be held indefinitely, without trial, by the military. Nearly all of the Republicans in the Senate voted against an amendment that would have removed this blatant violation of civil rights from the very lengthy legislation.

Sixteen Senate Democrats joined most of the Republicans (complete list below) in voting to allow the military to detain American citizens for life because they merely stand accused of a crime. Yet the suspect will have no legal representation, no chance to confront or even identify their accusers, no due process, no trial and no jury. This is not American. When our government began using this unjust format on foreign nationals, we told you that our own citizens would be next.

Which Senators voted to indefinitely hold US citizens without trial?.

Freed from the WordPress Blog: Psilomelane

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GOP backs payroll tax extension but rejects surtax on millionaires – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs

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GOP backs payroll tax extension but rejects surtax on millionaires – CNN Political Ticker – CNN.com Blogs.

Senate Republicans for the first time Tuesday indicated they would back an extension of the payroll tax cut, which some in the party argued had failed to provide enough economic bang for the buck as the Obama administration and congressional Democrats had promised.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP would offer a bill this week to extend the payroll tax cut for one year and offset its costs in a way that is more agreeable to Republicans than a surtax on incomes over $1 million, which Democrats had proposed.

“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of sentiment in our conference, clearly a majority sentiment for continuing the pay roll tax relief that we enacted a year ago, in these tough times,” McConnell said, “but we believe in these tough times we ought to pay for it.”

McConnell predicted a bill is likely to pass before the end of the year.

The Democrats’ bill would extend and expand last year’s tax break. Payroll taxes, cut to 4.2 % from 6.2% last year, would be lowered to 3.1%. That would provide middle class families with up to $1,500 more in their paychecks next year, Democrats said. Democrats would also partially extend the break to employers, hoping that might spur hiring. The price tag of the bill is about $265 billion, according to aides.

Democrats want to pay for it with a 3.25% surtax on annual income over $1 million, and they sense they have the political advantage on the issue.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada pointed to polls that show a majority of Republican voters think wealthy Americans should pay more in taxes.

“The only place in America that people don’t want a fair system is Republicans here in the Senate,” Reid said. “Republicans outside this Capitol think the rich should bear some of the burdens we have in our country today.”

Republicans kept details of their bill close to the vest saying only they would unveil it later this week. However, they did say they likely would target it just to individuals because extending it to employers would be too pricey. In addition, the cost offsets would be designed to “not adversely impact job creation,” according to McConnell.

When pressed on the issue of alternative cost offsets, Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, a Republican leader, said one possibility could be some of the spending cuts identified in the recent “super committee” deficit talks. However, Thune cautioned that there could be other alternatives.

Thune also said it’s possible Democrats won’t support the GOP offsets, so further negotiations between the parties would be required to find a compromise.

Rank-and-file Republicans had their own ideas. Conservatives like Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina said the costs should be balanced with spending cuts. Centrist Susan Collins of Maine said she supported the “millionaires surtax” but she wanted to exempt small businesses. And moderate Scott Brown of Massachusetts said he doesn’t want any offsets because he believes the economic growth created by the tax breaks ultimately will make up for the lost revenue.

Legislators squabble over extending the payroll tax cut

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Legislators squabble over extending the payroll tax cut – CNN.com.

Senate Democrats this week will propose extending the payroll tax cut and imposing a surtax on people earning more than $1 million to pay for it, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said Sunday.

Appearing on the NBC program “Meet the Press,” Schumer said the proposal would be brought up again if Republicans vote it down due to their general opposition to tax increases.

Schumer, a liberal Democrat, predicted it would be difficult for Republicans to vote against a measure that prevents an increased tax burden on middle-class Americans after protecting tax cuts for the wealthy in deficit reduction negotiations.

However, conservative Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, said the Democratic plan would increase the tax burden of wealthy job creators to pay for something that failed to bring new jobs this year.

“The payroll tax holiday has not stimulated job creation,” Kyl said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“We don’t think that is a good way to do it.”

To Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the GOP stance “defies logic.”

“Republicans are walking away from lower- and middle-income families because they don’t want to impose a small, small tax on the wealthiest people in America,” Durbin said on the same program.

Even anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, who is credited with pressuring Republicans to oppose increased taxes in any deficit reduction deal, expressed possible support for extending the payroll tax cut.

“I’m not opposed to extending the payroll tax, necessarily,” Norquist said on NBC, adding it would be “destructive” to pay for doing so by raising another tax.

At issue is whether to restore the payroll tax to 6.2% on the first $106,800 of wages into Social Security. This year, wage-earners have only been paying 4.2% from a tax break set to expire January 1.

Failing to extend it would amount to raising taxes during a rough economic patch — something that President Barack Obama would like to avoid.

According to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 121 million families have benefited from the tax break, with an increase in take-home pay of $934 for the average worker.

Moody’s Analytics estimated in August that letting the tax cut expire would reduce growth by as much as 0.5%. It called extending the cut one of the “most straightforward” ways to “reduce some of the coming fiscal restraint.”

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