Petty Disagreements Stop Tax Cuts

Robert Novak reports on an incident in which Republican Senator Charles Grassley prevented tax cuts from going forward...just because of a petty disagreement:

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on Thursday personally torpedoed Speaker Dennis Hastert's attempt to get a tax cut extension bill through the House before the Easter recess began this weekend.

Hastert had surprised everybody Wednesday night by announcing plans to rush through House passage of a bill extending dividend and capital gains tax relief. To accomplish that, however, a Senate-House conference had to formally approve a compromise that had been agreed to in principle.

That was considered nearly certain because all that was needed was for Grassley to walk across the Capitol to sign the conference report. But Grassley has been feuding with his House counterpart, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, and he refused to advance the tax bill.

This is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy. Congressmen, and especially Senators, are so enthralled with their high and mighty position that they disregard what's best for the country in order to make their petty points. I wish we could flush the whole bunch of them, from both parties, and start over with public servants who understand that their job is not to inflate their own egos, but do the people's work.