I watched Representative Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, who is the former Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Committee on Fox News Sunday do what it appears President Obama did recently. What is that you ask? Trading away your "bargaining" chip before coming to the table. Van Hollen basically stated on the program that the House this week will do whatever they can to bring up a separate vote on the estate tax part of the Tax Compromise because this is another portion of this compromise that many House democrats find objectionable. But he also stated that the House democrats, however, will at the end of the day not block this bill. My question is then this. If you have stated on air that the House has no intention of holding up this tax compromise bill, then why would the White House or republicans listen to your objections over the estate tax? Hello, Chris Van Hollen, you have just given up what leverage you may have had by informing the people you wish to negotiate with that you will not hold up a bill they are tyring to pass. What reason now do they have to negotiate with you?
*For whatever reason the embed code is not working for the video clip from Fox News Sunday so here is a link instead.
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