Domestic Taxes

Republicans balked at a Democratic proposal Thursday to hold several votes to extend middle-class tax cuts when they return from the weeklong Thanksgiving recess.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he would hold at least one if not several votes on the middle-class tax cuts, for those making $250,000 a year and below, and allow a vote on a bill authored by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would permanently extend all the tax breaks. 

"We want to give the Republicans an opportunity to vote on McConnell's legislation," Reid said today.

McConnell chided Democrats for talking too much about the 2001 and 2003 tax hikes without moving to extend them. He said earlier this week that he is opposed to considering the different income bracket levels separately.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has adopted a hardball strategy for dealing with Republicans on the tax cuts. 

Both Republicans and Democrats pressed housing regulators on their inability to combat or prevent the mishandling of mortgage documentation amid foreclosure proceedings during a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) pressed housing regulators on the lack of monetary penalties assessed against mortgage servicers that did not meet documentation standards. Waters chairs the subcommittee on housing and community affairs, which held the hearing.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), argued that the additional regulations created by the financial regulatory overhaul would not amount to much if regulators could not effectively regulate.

"We didn't need more regulations, we needed regulators that were doing their job," he said.

The Fox News personality is pushing an inaccurate interpretation of the reform law's so-called "1099" provision.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) won his bid Wednesday to become the ranking member on the House Budget Committee. 

Van Hollen positioned himself last week to take over the Democrats' top spot after gaining the support from all the other returning members of the panel, including outgoing Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.), who lost his reelection bid, leaving the ranking member's position open for a challenge. 

The House Democratic Caucus approved the move this afternoon. 

"Over the next two years we will be engaged in a critical debate over how best to strengthen our economy and put our fiscal house in order," Van Hollen said today in a statement. "The Budget Committee will be a central front in this national conversation about how to accelerate job creation and economic growth."

Treasury Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin told global financiers that they need to work together to establish safeguards to prevent another financial crisis, and touted the financial regulatory overhaul in the U.S. as a “tremendous step forward.”

Speaking before the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning, Wolin said there is “no doubt” that the regulatory regimes in place worldwide “simply did not work.”

“They failed to prevent a historic global recession that has cost us all dearly,” he said. “They must be fixed. And in Washington we have tried to lead by example.”

The interconnectedness of the modern global financial system means cooperation and coordination in regulating financial markets is essential, he said, calling on other nations to develop tools to wind down failing banks and other financial institutions, as the U.S. has.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said a "tsunami" of regulations "defies" common sense.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is considering a two-year extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Tuesday he is still pushing to make middle-class tax cuts permanent and take a vote before the end of the lame-duck session in December. 

Baucus didn't have any details about a broader tax-cut plan saying the issue wasn't discussed among Democrats during today's party lunch. 

He said he expects to "get down to serious discussions later this week." 

The Senate isn't expected to vote on a tax extenders bill this week and will take up the issue after the Thanksgiving holiday.