Blue Dogs want millionaires to fund vets

House Democratic leaders have cobbled together a deal to pass the emergency war-spending bill Thursday, but it could start falling apart almost as soon as it’s passed.

The leaders added a “millionaire’s tax” to satisfy demands from fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats that the $52 billion cost of the GI bill not simply get tossed on the heaping national debt.

{mosads}But some are skeptical that any new tax, even one taking from the rich to put Iraq veterans through college, will make it through the Senate. And if it doesn’t, the deal with Blue Dogs could be called off.

“What’s the probability that’s going to pass the Senate? I’d say zero,” said Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.). “We’ve been through this rodeo before.”

 House leadership staffers say they’re hoping that Blue Dogs will vote for the Senate-passed package anyway, even if the massive new program isn’t offset with the tax or other spending cuts, or “paid for” under pay-as-you-go, or pay-go, budgetary rules.

They say Blue Dogs can be happy with the symbolic victory that they came up with a way to pay for it and that the House version is paid for, then bow to political reality and vote for a version that adds the cost to the deficit.

No way, says Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Fla.). Boyd has led the Blue Dog charge against a GI bill that’s not paid for.

Emphasizing that he was speaking for himself and not the entire coalition, Boyd said he wouldn’t go along if the Senate sends back a GI bill that isn’t offset.

“We may be talking about it again next week,” Boyd said. “I believe if you’re going to have new mandatory spending, you ought to pay for it.”

But for now, Boyd emphasized that he is happy with the way the House bill is written.

That’s not even the case with Cooper, who said he might not vote to bring the supplemental bill to the floor Thursday. He said the millionaire’s tax solves only one of several problems he has with the handling of the GI bill legislation.

“The secretary of defense has said this could affect recruitment and retention,” Cooper said. “Have we had a hearing to see if that’s the case? What’s missing here?”

The GI bill is a veterans’ benefit crafted by Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) that would pay for college up to the highest in-state tuition for any veteran, plus a housing benefit. The so-called millionaire’s tax would place a surtax on wealthy Americans earning more than $500,000 as individuals and $1 million as couples.

The Blue Dogs can create this problem because the bill requires agreement on a “rule” for debate before it goes to the floor. Republicans vote as a bloc against Democratic rules, so it only takes about 15 defections to stop the bill.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday the bill needs a rule if and when it returns from the Senate. Asked if that would make the effort to fund the GI bill on the House side “academic,” Hoyer said, “It may be.

“It’s right that we pursue pay-go,” Hoyer said. “The Senate has trouble paying for things. There’s a solution to that. You’re going to see a substantial number of new Democratic senators next year.”

But Blue Dogs have relented before. Last year, they forced votes on a tax increase to pay to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax, then allowed the House to agree to a Senate-passed version that was not paid for.