Journal says Ensign embarassed Gingrich

Nevada Congressman John Ensign embarassed House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Monday when he issued a news release declaring he had killed the casino meals tax, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The Journal said the news release revealed a strategy by Republicans to add pet projects to a major bill overhauling the Internal Revenue Service.

Ensign couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the Journal story this morning. The story said that while Gingrich was embarassed, he and Majority Leader Trent Lott support the measure killing the meals tax.

"GOP leaders are threatening to change legislation restructuring the Internal Revenue Service in a bid to cut taxes and achieve other election-year goals," the Journal said. "The move could delay final approval of the IRS overhaul agreed to last week by House and Senate negotiators. It also reflects the increasingly dim prospect that Congress will write a major revenue bill this year."

Other issues unrelated to the IRS bill -- ranging from a package of technical corrections for the highway spending bill to a new commission to fix Social Security to capital gains tax changes -- could be tacked on to the bill. This was creating confusion about the bill's scope and was slowing down work on the final product, possibly postponing final passage until after July.

archive