Only A Liberal Would Claim That Letting People Keep THEIR Money Is A 'Gift'

Reading an article from The Hill I am once again struck by the twisted thinking that goes on in Liberal Democrat's minds.

This is about the estate tax aka death tax where our government claims the right to take (Insert percentage)of a person's inheritance after someone dies and leaves their fortune to that person if that fortune is more than (Insert amount).

IRS's explanation:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death (Refer to Form 706 (PDF)). The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them. The total of all of these items is your "Gross Estate." The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets.

In the tax deal that Obama negotiated with congressional Republicans, there was a deal reached tax 35 percent of any estate left to heirs that equaled more than $5 million. (The 35 percent would be taxed on anything over the $5 million)

House Democrats and the whole liberal blogosphere went nuts over that provision because they feel the government should take 45 percent for all estates worth more than $3.5 million. (The 45 percent would be taxed on anything over the $3.5 million)

There is the background and here is what I read in The Hill today:

Democratic leaders have assailed the GOP-favored estate tax provision as a needless gift to the wealthy, calling it the most egregious part of the Obama proposal. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the House Democrats’ chief negotiator on the tax deal, said Wednesday the lower estate tax rate would add $23 billion to the deficit while benefiting just 6,600 American families.

There is so much wrong with that paragraph on so many levels I almost do not know where to start.

So, I will start with the phrase "needless gift."

Only in the twisted logic of a liberal is letting people keep their own money, left to them by a family member or friend, considered a "gift."

So, if you head over to your neighbors house and steal only 35 percent of their property instead of taking 45 percent of their property you are giving them a gift by oh so generously allowing them to keep 65 percent of their own property?

WTF?

Then we move on to Van Hollen''s other statement where he claims, outright, that by not stealing another 10 percent of someones inheritance it is adding to our deficit?

No no no no... wrong.

That isn't their money to begin with, it belongs to someone else, it isn't adding to anything. It is simply not allowing Peter to steal more from Paul to pay his bills.

What the hell is wrong with these people where not stealing as much as you could steal is considered a gift and stealing less than you could steal is considered adding debt?

That is freaking twisted.

Newsflash- When you spend money, you are adding to your debt. When you borrow money, you are adding to the debt.

When you take money that doesn't belong to you to pay for those debts, you are a thief.

(Changes were made to this post)

Senate Passes Bipartisan Tax Deal 81-19

The Senate just passed the tax deal negotiated by Barack Obama and Republican congressional members in an 81 to 19 vote for the measure. (Roll call will be found here in approximately an hour)

Next stop the House of Representatives where Democratic leadership has indicated they will try to change the deal but which projections predict will pass basically as is after Democrats put on a "show" to save face and to appease their far left liberal base that has been howling over the deal because of the inclusion of the estate tax deal which would set the tax at 35 percent and increase the exemption to $5 million.

House Democratic efforts to block President Obama’s tax bill have dwindled into a battle to save face as they come to the realization they will have little opportunity to rework the bipartisan compromise.

Party leaders were debating on Tuesday whether to bring up amendments to the bill for a vote even as Democrats acknowledged the overwhelming Senate support for the tax deal created an “urgency” to get legislation to the president’s desk.

The House is not expected to take the issue up until tomorrow.

More to come as reactions come out.

[Update] Now being reported by The Hill, Bloomberg, NPR, NYT.

[Update #2] Those that voted against it listed below:

NAYs ---19

Bingaman (D-NM)
Coburn (R-OK)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Merkley (D-OR)
Sanders (I-VT)
Sessions (R-AL)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wyden (D-OR)

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Finally A Liberal Lists The Reason Americans Do Not Like The Estate Tax aka Death Tax

Estate Tax aka Death Tax definition from IRS.gov:

The Estate Tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death. It consists of an accounting of everything you own or have certain interests in at the date of death (Refer to Form 706 (PDF)). The fair market value of these items is used, not necessarily what you paid for them or what their values were when you acquired them. The total of all of these items is your "Gross Estate." The includible property may consist of cash and securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, annuities, business interests and other assets.

Over at Mother Jones, Kevin Drum writes a piece titled "Tax Cut Deal Wildly Popular", where he shows the same graph I used yesterday taken from the ABC News/Washington Post poll showing support for specific components on the tax deal negotiated between Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans.

Drum then asks what is going on? He seems confused that the payroll tax cut garnered so much less support than the increased exemption on the estate tax (which is set at $5 million in the new tax deal).

He sees possible answers to his own question:

Possible answers: (a) people don't really understand that cutting payroll taxes means they'll see an immediate increase in their take home pay, (b) people associate payroll taxes so strongly with Social Security solvency that they don't want to cut them, (c) people fantastically overestimate how likely they are to have a $5 million estate when they die, (d) lots of people have a strong instinctive view that people should be able to pass on their wealth to their kids no matter how much it is, (e) people are just generally confused about all this stuff and it's hopeless to try and figure out what's really going on.

The majority of his "possible answers" seem to stem from his own inability to understand how liberals could be in the minority in their thinking and that people are too slow witted to truly understand the "progressive" thinking.

With that said, finally, a far left liberal lists the reason most Americans do not agree with the death tax and are supportive of increasing the exemption to the highest possible number if the whole tax the dead concept won't be scrapped.

Credit where it is due though, at least Drum did add the correct answer into the equation, much to the dismay and anger of other liberals.

How difficult is it to understand that people work their whole lives chasing the American dream in order to live well and be able to pass it on to their children/family?

The majority of the money millionaires or billionaires have, was either worked for and taxed already or someone in their families had worked for it and had it taxed already, so instinctively Americans wince at the thought of stealing from the dead simply because they died and had money when they did.

So, the answer is (d) lots of people have a strong instinctive view that people should be able to pass on their wealth to their kids no matter how much it is.....

Tell me how hard is it for far left liberals to understand the words "their wealth" and "their kids", words Drum used in his possible answers, are the key words and the reason the polling is showing support for the higher exemption?

Perhaps it is Drum and his far left brethren that "don't understand" and are "confused about all this stuff."

Americans aren't as gung-ho about class warfare as so-called progressives are.

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Tax Deal: Senate Cloture Vote Passes Test: Update- Up to 70 (Now 80) Votes For Cloture and Voting Still Open

The final voted that the Senate used as a test to see how much support or lack thereof they would have to pass the tax deal negotiated between Repulicans and Obama ended with 83-15, two not voting.

[Update] Final vote 83-15, two not voting, roll call found here.




Dems that vote nay:

Bingaman (D-NM)
Brown (D-OH)
Feingold (D-WI)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Udall (D-CO)



Republicans that voted nay:
Coburn (R-OK)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Sessions (R-AL)

Independent, who usually caucuses with Dems, that voted nay:
Sanders (I-VT)


[Updates on top for this post] MSNBC reports after my original post was in the works that the preliminary numbers are now 80-10 in favor of cloture for the tax deal negotiated between Obama and Republicans. More than enough needed to overcome a filibuster (which is 60 votes) when the actual bill comes up for a vote.

(Note- The numbers above are being changed as they are updated, keep refreshing for an accurate preliminary count and the official count will be listed at the top when it is published)

The vote is still open for a little less than an hour more. So these are just preliminary numbers.

This will be updated again with the final vote tally and when the U.S. Senate roll call lists are published I will provide a link.

Original post below.

It was predicted earlier that the Senate would hold their first procedural vote for cloture, to proceed with the Tax deal Barack obama and Republicans negotiated and that they did have the votes, in what was the first test vote in the senate, to pass the measure.

LA Times reports that the vote "began at 3 p.m., and the vote was to remain open until 6 p.m. to give senators time to make it back to Washington due to inclement weather. As of 4:20 p.m., C-SPAN reported, the vote was 64-8 in favor of the legislation."

The final numbers are not in yet, but the preliminary reports indicate the Senate does have the votes it would need (60) to overcome any filibuster attempt.

Related news today shows that the tax deal also enjoys complete bipartisan support from American voters by an easy majority in two separately reported polls, one from Pew Research and one from ABC News/Washington Post, more here on those.

The House of Representatives, still controlled by Democrats until January, has threatened to derail the tax deal Obama and Republicans negotiated and the Senate is expected to pass, but even House Democratic lawmakers opposed to portions of the deal have indicated they see the deal passing the House despite very loud objections from the progressive liberal blogosphere.

House aides said Democrats' strategy in that chamber would be affected by the margin of the Senate vote.

"If you have 70 people in a bipartisan vote, I don't see a situation where we really play that game of chicken and change [the bill],'' said a senior aide to a House Democrat supporting the legislation.

The deal negotiated by the White House and Republican lawmakers would extend for two years the income-tax cuts signed into law by former President George W. Bush. The agreement would also give most workers a one-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes and enact a slew of targeted breaks for businesses and individuals.

Under the deal, the estate tax, which has been eliminated for 2010, would be reinstated next year at a top rate of 35% and applied to estates above $5 million. Without action, the rate is scheduled to spring to 55% next year and apply to estates above $1 million.

Many House Democrats argue the deal is too generous to inheritances. Some are arguing to amend the bill to include a top rate of 45%, applied to estates of $3.5 million or more. Another possibility under discussion is introducing and passing a separate bill on the 45% estate tax, then taking up the Senate measure, with its 35% rate, according to a House aide. That could give unhappy Democrats a chance to register their disapproval, without blocking action.

The House will make a big "show" of it all, but when all is said and done, Obama, The Senate nor Republicans need the House Democrats to pass this before the end of the year because according to WSJ, Obama can delay the implementation of higher taxes until Republicans pass the deal in January if Democrats do not do it.

.....the White House could block an immediate increase in withholding levels, pending passage of a tax bill by a new Congress next year.....

Democrats can put on whatever show they want, but this either passes as one of their last acts in control or it will pass in January when Republicans take control. All this theater is nothing more than that.



Today's related posts:

Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party

Tax Deal: Predicted To Pass In The Senate

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Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party

Two polls released which show that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats support the tax deal that Barack Obama and Republicans negotiating. This shows that far left liberals, including House Democrats that have been fighting against the deal as a whole, are not representative of America and are not even representative of their whole party.

Earlier it was reported that the Senate is set to move forward with it's first procedural motion, cloture, to test the level of support in the upper chamber and now Pew Research and an ABC News/Washington Post poll both find a broad level of support, a majority of Americans supportive of the tax deal as a whole.

Pew finds that 60 percent of Americans back the tax deal, and that includes 63 percent of Democrats and surprise, surprise, 65 percent of liberal Democrats, showing that the far left liberal blogoshere which has spent a week throwing a complete temper tantrum, does not even represent those that consider themselves liberal Democrats!!

The agreement between President Obama and congressional Republicans to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits is getting strong bipartisan support. Overall, 60% approve of the agreement while just 22% disapprove.

There are virtually no partisan differences in opinions about the agreement – 63% of Democrats approve of it, as do 62% of Republicans and 60% of independents. Among Democrats, liberals are as supportive of the agreement as are conservative and moderate Democrats.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll is even worse news for the far left liberal blogosphere, as well as the House Democrats that have been fighting against the deal their own party's president negotiated:

Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they support the agreement announced last week by the president that would extend all expiring tax cuts for two years, extend unemployment benefits for 13 months, allow for a one-year payroll tax holiday, and increase the level of exemption from estate taxes, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found Monday.

The graph at the top of the post is a screen shot from the ABC News/Washington Post poll PDF, and it shows that the specific part of the tax deal that receives the least support is cutting social security and payroll taxes, not the part that liberal far left progressive Democrats have been complaining about, very loudly, which has been the estate tax provisions.

The estate tax provision increasing the exemption actually enjoys a majority of support even from Democrats.

(Click image to enlarge for better reading)

Initial reactions show blogosphere far left liberals in complete denial.

[Update] New reports show that a certain segment of conservatives are slamming the deal, with estate taxes also being the chief complaint... the difference is that the conservatives do not think there should be any estate tax aka death tax.

The polls mentioned above ask about support on "increasing exemption" but they did not ask about the estate tax as a whole.

I would be interested to see those figures gauging what portion of America thinks that leveling taxes on monies or estates left to family and/or friends is supported although as I pointed out in previous days, highlighting specific portions of the bill should not assume that just because one option or another would influence support as a whole.

The bill is not being voted on separately, it is a package and when determining levels of support the whole package should always be polled on rather than cherry picking individual issues to try to dishonestly mislead readers into thinking the package in full does not enjoy bipartisan support.

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Tax Deal Predicted To Pass In The Senate

[Update]- Senate test vote has more than enough votes for cloture- Post here, constantly updated until final vote count is in.

Today the Senate is expected to hold their first procedural vote for cloture, to proceed with the Tax deal Barack obama and Republicans negotiated and according to Senate aides if the motion receives 65 to 70 members' support it will affect how the House of Representatives (still controlled by Pelosi until January) handles the passage in that chamber.

Three Senate aides said the tax package appeared likely to attract at least 65 to 70 supporters Monday in a procedural vote in the Senate to test whether there is support to block a potential filibuster. Sixty votes are needed for the bill to cross that hurdle. A vote on final passage is expected a day or two later.

House aides said Democrats' strategy in that chamber would be affected by the margin of the Senate vote.

"If you have 70 people in a bipartisan vote, I don't see a situation where we really play that game of chicken and change [the bill],'' said a senior aide to a House Democrat supporting the legislation.

For those unaware of what the estate tax aka death tax is:

The estate tax in the United States is a tax imposed on the transfer of the "taxable estate" of a deceased person, whether such property is transferred via a will, according to the state laws of intestacy or otherwise made as an incident of the death of the owner, such as a transfer of property from an intestate estate or trust, or the payment of certain life insurance benefits or financial account sums to beneficiaries.

Of course, House Democrats will have some sort of dog and pony show before hand, some political theater to "register their disapproval" with the estate tax aka death tax provisions that are in the Senate deal.

Under the deal, the estate tax, which has been eliminated for 2010, would be reinstated next year at a top rate of 35% and applied to estates above $5 million. Without action, the rate is scheduled to spring to 55% next year and apply to estates above $1 million.

Many House Democrats argue the deal is too generous to inheritances. Some are arguing to amend the bill to include a top rate of 45%, applied to estates of $3.5 million or more. Another possibility under discussion is introducing and passing a separate bill on the 45% estate tax, then taking up the Senate measure, with its 35% rate, according to a House aide. That could give unhappy Democrats a chance to register their disapproval, without blocking action.

The bottom line here is that House Democrats are in the lame duck session and Pelosi and company cannot afford to have one of their last acts of "control" be the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for everyone to which every American would then see a tax rise by the end of the year.

The Wall Street Journal also provides another detail of why, despite the planned political theater, House Democrats truly are irrelevant to this deal:

It wasn't clear how far House Democrats would push such a fight. If a bill isn't passed by the end of the year, tax rates are scheduled to go up, although the White House could block an immediate increase in withholding levels, pending passage of a tax bill by a new Congress next year.

Next year being when Republicans control the House of Representatives.

So, after the Senate passes the tax deal and the House Democrats put on their little show, in the end the deal is predicted to pass whether it is by the end of the year as one of the last acts the Democratically controlled House passes or whether it is one of the first acts of a Republican controlled House in January.

The most interesting thing here is with the announcement that Obama and Republicans had negotiated a tax deal, Obama potentially could have elevated his standing among Independents and Moderates across America, but far left liberal progressives took a whole week and publicly had what amounts to a hissy fit, turning the potential win into a protracted class warfare fight turning the whole deal against Obama.

Then to top it off, in trying to soothe or win over the far left liberals, Obama put the final nail in the coffin and spectacularly blew it.

[Update] New related post "Tax Deal: Two Separate Polls Show Liberals Fighting Against Majority of Americans, Even Their Own Party."

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Tax Deal: Done Deal Despite Progressives? Not So Fast, House Dems Defy Obama

Despite the caterwauling from progressive liberals in the media, the blogosphere and liberal Democratic politicians over the weekend after Barack Obama announced a deal on taxes that included the continuation of all Bush-era tax cuts, a deal on estate taxes aka death taxes, an extension of unemployment insurance, payroll-tax cuts, incentives for businesses and tax credits, it seems Democrats are being told by the Obama administration, via Joe Biden, to take the deal or risk "plunging the country into a double-dip recession if they reject his tax-cut deal with Republicans."

Obama’s White House started a full-court press on the agreement Wednesday that included a meeting between House Democrats and Vice President Biden.

House Democrats emerged from the meeting saying Biden told them the agreement essentially was final.

“It’s up or down,” Biden told them, according to Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.)

Senior advisers to Obama told wavering Democratic lawmakers the tax package will speed the recovery and warned that failure to pass it would have disastrous consequences for the economy.

Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid are already set to schedule a vote on the package, but House Democrats are still "angry" the Washington Post describes and do not like the deal in it's current form, although VP Biden has made it clear this is the final bill.

In a forceful presentation, however, Biden made it clear that big changes are not in the cards. "The vice president said: 'This is the deal. Take it or leave it,' " an irritated Rep. Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) said, paraphrasing Biden.

I am sure that went over well... not.

Perhaps Democratic House Representatives should try a novel idea... listening to Americans, their constituents, the voters, who in two separate polls, Gallup and Rasmussen show a majority favor the tax deal the President cut with Republicans.

Gallup:

Two major elements included in the tax agreement reached Monday between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in Congress meet with broad public support. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all Americans for two years, and an identical number support extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

Rasmussen:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of Likely U.S. Voters favor the agreement that extends the Bush tax cuts for all Americans for two more years, cuts the Social Security payroll tax rate for one year and renews long-term unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months. Just 29% oppose the deal, but 15% are not sure about it.

For those whining about the estate tax aka death tax, Gallup found recently (11/23/10) that the top three issues for Americans are (from first to third) "passing legislation that would keep the estate tax from increasing significantly next year", "extending some form of federal income tax cuts passed by George W. Bush that are set to expire at the end of this year," and "extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed."



Those are the top three issues Americans wanted to see dealt with during the lame duck session of Congress (after elections before the newly elected politicians are seated).

This deal between Republicans and Barack Obama covers all three of the issues mentioned above.

Over the last two years liberal Democratic politicians have ignored the American people and passed their own ideological agenda time and again, in some cases in direct opposition of the majority of Americans wanted and it looks like they are about to set themselves in direct opposition yet again over this issue.

Only this time, they are not only ignoring Americans but are giving the finger to Barack Obama, the leader of their own party.

Breaking from CNN "House Democrats defy Obama on tax cut bill"

Defying President Obama, House Democrats voted Thursday not to bring up the tax package that he negotiated with Republicans in its current form.

"This message today is very simple: That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus. It's as simple as that," said Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

More:

"There is an important debate on Capitol Hill that will determine in part whether our economy moves backward or forward," Obama said at an Export Council meeting. "The bipartisan framework we have forged on taxes will not only protect working Americans from seeing a major tax increase on January 1, it will provide businesses with incentives to invest, grow, and hire."

"Every economist I have talked to or read over the last couple of days acknowledges that this agreement would boost economic growth in the coming years and has the potential to create millions of jobs," Obama continued. "The average American family will start 2011 knowing that there will be more money to pay the bills each month, more money to pay for tuition, more money to raise their children," he said. "But if this framework fails, the reverse is true. Americans will see it in smaller paychecks that will have the effect of fewer jobs."

My headline yesterday has been proven spot on "Liberals Want To Let Taxes Rise For Everyone And Cut Off Unemployment Benefits."

Side Note: If Democrats led by Pelosi don't allow this issue to be dealt with before Republicans take over control of the House of Representatives in January, they could deal with it and make it retroactive. The problem there is that IRS has already warned "that retroactively changing 2010 tax laws early next year "would be extremely detrimental to the entire tax filing season and to tens of millions of taxpayers."

[Update] Outgoing Democratic Representative Michael McMahon tells liberal Democrats and others who are howling at President Barack Obama for dealing with the GOP on taxes to stop acting like "petulant children".

[Update #2] White House issued a statement:

"The House and Senate are working through the normal process of bringing a bill forward and we are confident that the major components of the tax framework that we fought for will remain in the final package brought to the floor and ultimately passed by Congress."

[Update #3] Democratic House vote by Nancy Pelosi defying Obama is non-binding and may just be a way to "save face" in the eyes of progressive base, but White House has a plan B!!!

Take it away NRO:

UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter for pointing out the White House is sufficiently worried about the House Democrats that it is considering alternative legislative strategies. Speaker Pelosi has already said she won’t touch the Obama-McConnell deal until the Senate acts on it (if at all), and now CNN’s Ed Henry reports that, in light of the caucus vote, an unnamed senior White House adviser is saying that the strategy now is to use a bill already passed by House as a vehicle for the new tax deal, and send it back to the house — something the adviser called “jam[ming] the House.”

This, ironically, would amount to giving House leadership a taste of their own medicine, since they used the procedural advantages associated with the “amend a Senate bill” trick to pass their middle-class-only tax bill without giving the Republicans an opportunity to offer an alternative.

Regardless, the ball is still in Pelosi’s court. House leadership has wide prerogatives on what that body does and does not consider. Just about the only real way to force a vote without the Speaker’s approval is a discharge petition, which would require 218 signatories and 30 days. So — oh, delicious irony! — the only thing standing between President Obama and what looks like it would be the most popular initiative of his term – is Nancy Pelosi!

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Extending Bush Tax Cuts And Keeping Estate Taxes From Increasing Most Important To Americans

Gallup:

[Of these, taxes appear to be Americans' highest priority. That could be in part because tax rates would change significantly for 2011 if Congress does not act by the end of this year. The income tax cuts that were a centerpiece of the Bush economic plan are set to expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts to extend them. Most in Congress seem to support at least a temporary extension, though there is disagreement as to whether any extension should apply to upper-income Americans, in addition to middle-income Americans.

Also, Congress suspended the estate tax for this year, but it is scheduled to go back into effect in 2011 at a higher rate than previously was the case, unless Congress votes otherwise.]

Keeping estate taxes aka death taxes from increasing significantly topped the list with 56 percent of Americans saying that is very important, 26 percent saying it is somewhat important to deal with during the lame duck session of Congress, and 50 percent saying that extending Bush tax cuts in some form is very important with 31 percent saying it was somewhat important, came in second.

All other questions came in below 50 percent in the "very important" category with unemployment benefits at 48 percent, somewhat important 28 percent, START treaty at 40 percent,very important,33 percent saying somewhat important, DADT repeal at 32 percent,very important, 24 percent somewhat and DREAM Act at 31 percent, very important and 29 percent somewhat.

The breakdown along political lines is interesting with Republicans and Independents on opposite ends of the spectrum than Democrats.

(Click to enlarge)

Republicans' and Democrats' priorities differ most on extending the income tax cuts and extending unemployment benefits. In general, independents' priorities mirror those for all Americans.

Americans know what they want to see accomplished during the lame duck session of Congress (after midterms and before the newly elected Representatives and Senators are seated), now let's see if the still Democratically controlled Congress bothers to listen to the will of American voters or if they continue to push their own agenda until the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives and newly appointed Senators take their positions in the Senate, in January.

Midterm voters gave the GOP 62 net seats in the House of Representatives (and still counting as races are called), six additional seats in the Senate leaving it controlled by Democrats with far less of a majority, and hundreds of state legislative seats.

[Update] Change that to 63 House seats for the GOP since today incumbent Democrats Dan Maffei conceded in New York's 25th Congressional District race, making Republican Ann Marie Buerkle the first woman to represent that district.

(Corrections have been made to this post)

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