Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, gave a blunt analysis Sunday about the possibility of extending tax cuts to Americans and about the fate of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and other legislation in the lame-duck congressional session that resumes Monday.
Mr. Graham said Congress has “enough bipartisan support” to extend the so-called Bush-era tax cuts, despite the refusal by Democrats to extend them to all Americans.
He also said senators who support a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the U.S. military “do not have the votes” on the Republican side.
“In a lame-duck session, ’don’t ask, don’t tell’ is not going anywhere,” Mr. Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.”
He also said efforts pass the DREAM Act — legislation to give amnesty to illegal aliens — is “going nowhere.”
“How can you give citizenship to 2 million people without securing our borders first?” Mr. Graham asked.
On extending the Bush-era tax cuts, which is likely to be the most pressing order of business when the Senate reconvenes, Mr. Graham predicted a bipartisan lame-duck vote to extend all of the tax cuts for two or three years.
Also on Fox, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat, said she would support raising the upper-income limit on tax cuts to a million dollars. “I think we should draw the line in the sand for millionaires,” she said, decrying that “the middle class could be held hostage” by the extended tax debate.
On the DREAM Act, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, promised during the campaign to bring up in the lame-duck session, Mr. Graham predicted no chance of success.
“If we bring up the DREAM Act in the lame duck, that’s going nowhere,” Mr. Graham said.
• Joseph Weber can be reached at jweber@washingtontimes.com.old.
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