GOP staffer lampoons Axelrod e-mail on Bush tax cuts

The subject line to Axelrod’s e-mail was “They’re holding your tax cut hostage,” with the body stating, “They’re holding these tax cuts for the middle-class hostage, demanding that we also lift the cap and extend the breaks to millionaires and billionaires.” 

McConnell staffer Don Stewart (aka Stew) questioned how something that does not exist could be held hostage.

“I scoured the Congressional Record for the Democrat’s [sic] income tax bill that’s being ‘held hostage,’ ” he wrote. “After spending hours going through the pending legislation, checking in with the cloakroom and visiting the Senate library, I simply couldn’t find the poor hostage. Golly, but that was a waste of time: As it turns out that the Democrats haven’t filed a bill yet.” 

Stew did discover that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has filed cloture on legislation promoting cars that run on natural gas or electricity, a bill on paycheck fairness and the FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act. The Senate is expected to proceed to these measures after the election. 

He also noted that his boss’s bill, the Tax Hike Prevention Act, has been filed.

“So if you happen to bump into any of the good folks at the White House, please let them know that they can rest easy: There is no hostage, and there is a bill pending before the Senate that would prevent tax hikes,” he wrote. “And we’d sure love their support in preventing anyone from holding middle-class tax relief hostage.”