December 09, 2010 09:12 PM UTC

BREAKING: House Democrats Reject Obama Tax Cut Compromise

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: From National Journal, covering the same resolution, which appears to confirm the earlier report of Rep. Jared Polis’ support for the deal–keep in mind that this was a voice vote:

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who introduced the resolution, said the vote was intended to instruct the House leadership to tell the Senate and the White House to go back to the table. “We have tremendous concerns about what was given away by the White House to Mitch McConnell in the Senate,” DeFazio said.

He noted that the vote in favor of the resolution was virtually unanimous. Sources said that only two members of the caucus — Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jared Polis, D-Colo. [Pols emphasis] — were heard to support the deal.

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UPDATE: Refuting a story from a national liberal blog yesterday that Rep. Jared Polis was in support of the tax cut compromise, from a statement today:

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) joined a near unanimous House Democratic Caucus today in voting to prevent President Obama’s tax package from coming to the House floor for a vote in its current form.

“I voted with my colleagues today to block the tax deal from coming to the floor because there is still time to broker a better deal for working families.  I have always supported middle class tax cuts and I voted just last week to permanently extend tax cuts for those who make $250,000 or less and to let tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent expire.  Hopefully, this resolution will buy us some time to put our heads together and bang out a deal that better protects working families with provisions like a longer unemployment insurance extension and tax credits for green jobs and renewable energy.”

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Reports Politico, the rebellion among Democrats against the Bush tax cut compromise brokered between President Barack Obama and GOP leaders, which appears to have split Colorado’s U.S. Senate and House Democrats, rolls on:

The House Democratic Caucus voted to oppose President Barack Obama’s tax plan, throwing into flux weeks of negotiations on an issue that has turned many congressional Democrats against the White House…

While this doesn’t necessarily scuttle the whole tax deal, it is “highly unlikely” that the tax-cut agreement will come to the floor as is, according to senior Democratic aides. A tax compromise could still pass if an overwhelming majority of Republicans voted for it alongside several dozen Democrats. But at this point, Democrats are making it clear they want changes before anything comes to the House floor.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said that “this means we will not bring this [agreement] to the floor as is. It has to be changed…”