Luke Sharrett for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late Tuesday passed and sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs.
The measure, brought to the House floor less than 24 hours after its
passage in the Senate, passed 257 to 167 with 85 Republicans joining 172
Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the first time in
two decades, in this case for the highest-earning Americans. Voting no
were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
The bill is expected to be signed quickly by Mr. Obama, who won
re-election on a promise to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans
to force them to pay a larger share of the government budget.
Mr. Obama strode into the White House briefing room shortly after the
vote, less to hail the end of this fiscal crisis than to lay out a
marker for the next one.
“The one thing that I think hopefully the new year will focus on is
seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less
drama, a little less brinkmanship, and not scare the heck out of folks
quite as much,” he said.
But he warned Republicans against trying to use a forthcoming vote on raising the debt ceiling to extract spending concessions.
“While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate
with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills
they’ve already racked up through the laws they have passed,” he said.
“Let me repeat, we can’t not pay bills that we’ve already incurred.”
In approving the measure after days of legislative intrigue, Congress
concluded its final and most pitched fight over fiscal policy, the
culmination of two years of battles over taxes, the federal debt,
spending and what to do to slow the growth in popular social programs
like Medicare.
The decision by the Republican leadership to allow the vote came despite
widespread scorn among House Republicans for the bill — passed
overwhelmingly by the Senate in the early hours of New Year’s Day —
because it did not include significant spending cuts in health and other
social programs. They say cuts are essential to any long-term solution
to the nation’s debt.
Democrats, while hardly placated by the compromise bill, celebrated Mr.
Obama’s nominal victory in his final showdown with House Republicans in
the 112th Congress, who began their term emboldened by scores of new,
conservative members whose reach to the right ultimately tipped them
over.
“The American people are the real winners tonight,” Representative Bill
Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said on the House floor, “not
anyone who navigates these halls.”
Not a single leader among House Republicans came to the floor to speak
in favor of the bill though Speaker John A. Boehner, who does not take
part in every roll call, voted in favor. Representative Eric Cantor of
Virginia, the majority leader, and Representative Kevin McCarthy of
California, the No. 3 Republican, voted no. Representative Paul D. Ryan,
the budget chairman who was the Republican vice-presidential candidate,
supported the bill.
Despite the party divisions, many other Republicans in their remarks
characterized the measure, which allows taxes to go up on household
income over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples but makes
permanent tax cuts for income below that level, a victory of sorts, even
as so many of them declined to vote for it.
“After more than a decade of criticizing these tax cuts,” said
Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, “Democrats are finally joining
Republicans in making them permanent. Republicans and the American
people are getting something really important, permanent tax relief.”
The dynamic with the House was a near replay of a fight at the end of 2011 over a payroll tax
break extension. In that showdown, Senate Democrats and Republicans
passed legislation, House Republicans fulminated, but they were
eventually forced to swallow it.
On Tuesday, as they got a detailed look at the Senate’s fiscal
legislation, House Republicans ranging from Midwest pragmatists to Tea Party-blessed
conservatives voiced serious reservations about the measure, emerging
from a lunchtime New Year’s Day meeting with their leaders, eyes
flashing and faces grim, insisting they would not accept a bill without
substantial savings from cuts.
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