Boehner tries to derail bipartisan payroll tax holiday extension when far right flips out

The House Republicans, like much of the Republican party, are under the control of the Tea Partiers and other far right Republicans.  And this is what happens - they refuse to compromise on everything, and insist on including radical provisions in every innocuous piece of legislation.

Yesterday, the Senate passed a two month payroll tax holiday extension with a whopping 89-10 vote (i.e., super bipartisan).  GOP Senate leader McConnell was reportedly given GOP House Speaker John Boehner's proxy to negotiate on his behalf.  So McConnell reached a deal with things neither side liked, but which at least continued the payroll tax holiday for another two months (something without which economic growth would tank next quarter, according to a good number of the experts).

Well, you can imagine what happened when House Republicans found out that a bipartisan deal had been reached.  They wanted nothing to do with it. Since, after all, if the Democrats had agreed to the compromise then clearly it wasn't far right enough.  So Boehner is in the position now of basically torpedoing a bipartisan compromise, right before Christmas, and holding every working American hostage to a GOP-imposed tax hike right after Christmas unless the far right in the GOP gets its way.

The Dems are far from perfect when they control Congerss, but they're far better than handing the keys to car of the nation to a bunch of angry nuts.  More from the White House.