Tag: Election 2012
Get ready for the lame-duck session of Congress
The 112th Congress reconvenes Nov. 13 with nothing less than the fate of the U.S. economy on the line.
In play in November and December: the expiring Bush tax cuts, an expanding alternative minimum tax poised to capture more and more middle class taxpayers, the expiring payroll tax cut that has been a boon to middle class households during the recession, cuts in physician reimbursements under Medicare, and the looming budget “sequestration,” which will automatically cut just under $50 billion in federal spending beginning in January and $500 billion over 10 years.
Latest polls: two more years of divided, if not dysfunctional, government
The latest polls heading into the weekend before Election Day suggest whoever is elected president will face the same dysfunctional Congress that President Obama has faced the last two years. That, in turn, increases the pressure on engaged citizens to push their representatives to take action in the areas most important to them.
House races: out of the limelight, still framing national debate
The race for control of the U.S. House is the forgotten campaign in this season of Obama vs. Romney and the Democrats’ teetering control of the Senate. Republicans are odds-on favorites to retain their House majority, with Democrats expected to pick up a few seats.
But House candidates throughout the country are battling over the same themes that President Obama and Mitt Romney are debating, in venues much closer to home for most American voters.








