BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Well, the Democratic controlled House approved a new GI bill designed to make sure returning veterans are provided the educational benefits they were promised.  Chances are that’s as far as it will get, but it is an effort.

The House voted Thursday to endorse a greatly expanded GI education benefit for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to be financed by a proposed .47 percent surtax on the wealthy.

The action pushes Democrats into new political territory for this Congress: raising income taxes outright on the rich to pay for new spending — and not just to shift the burden and pay for tax breaks for the middle class.

Individuals earning more than $500,000 and couples with joint returns in excess of $1 million would feel the surtax, which would apply only to income above the threshold level. Republican tax writers said small business partnerships and Subchapter S corporations would be hit as well, but Democrats argued that the education investment—costing $52 billion over 10 years—was warranted and worth the political risk on the tax issue.

Of interest in the bill, the wealthiest earners will foot the bill.

“You talk about working families? We’re talking about asking people who make over $1 million a year to increase their taxes $500 for these veterans to go to college,” said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.). “This is dedicated funding, and it comes from people in this country who have to most to give to the people who gave the most.”

Thirty-two Republicans joined the majority on the 256-166 vote, a rare showing of bipartisanship in the bitter debate over Iraq policy that had provoked yet more political maneuvering on the floor just minutes earlier.

With 32 Republicans joining the Democrats in the vote, we are seeing a shift in House voting trends.  Perhaps, it is an act of desperation on the part of the Republicans.  They have lost several House seats to Democrats in the past couple of months and the trend seems to indicate that more Republican seats will be taken in the general election.  So, as a last ditch effort to show what has been previously Republican stronghold areas that the Congressmen care about the people… in this case, the veterans… some of the Repubs are starting to cross the line to join more populist cases.

I suppose there is little to no chance of the bill making it to the White House.  It still has to pass the Senate.  But, if anything has been exposed, it is the fear that is choking the old Republicans out of Washington.