Tierney Hails House Tax Vote, Asks Republicans to Follow Suit

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a permanent tax relief bill Thursday -- largely seen as symbolic -- for people making less than $200,000 a year, and immediately afterwards Congressman John Tierney, D-MA, called on Senate Republicans to support the legislation.

"Now that the House has passed common sense legislation to provide middle-class families and small businesses with critical tax relief, Senate Republicans should put an end to their harmful obstruction and take action on this important bill," Tierney said. "As our economy continues to recover, it would be extremely unfortunate for middle-class families to be hit with unnecessary tax hikes come January due to political games being played by a small group of lawmakers."

Tax cuts have been a nationwide controversy recently, with the tax cuts President George W. Bush signed into law in 2001 and 2003 set to expire at the end of the year. Democrats have long insisted the tax cuts for people making less than $200,000 a year be made permanent and the tax cuts for incomes higher than that be allowed to revert back to the 2000 rates, saying that keeping tax cuts for wealthier Americans would add too much to the nation's debt. Republicans have insisted that all the tax cuts be extended, some insisting they be made permanent, saying that tax cuts for wealthier Americans frees up money for them to hire new employees.

Sen. Scott Brown, R-MA, did not respond to request for comment, but he has advocated for extending the Bush tax cuts in their entirety.

Republican leaders have been meeting with President Barack Obama in recent days to work out a compromise, and there has been speculation that an agreement may be reached to extend all the tax cuts temporarily and work on permanent tax cuts later. Thursday's House vote was a move by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to push middle class tax cuts through now. Tierney hailed the passage of the House bill as a boon the middle class and small businesses. But Republicans have called it a political stunt, a ploy to sabotage efforts at compromise with the white house.

"The legislation passed today would provide all Americans with tax relief and reduce the deficit by $700 billion," Tierney said. "It should not be put in jeopardy by those blindly concerned with providing a windfall to the wealthiest of Americans at the expense of middle-class families in need."

The House vote is largely seen as symbolic, since such a bill doesn't have the votes needed to pass in the Senate. This has added to Republican dismissal of the vote as a political show.