The Repansycans can't get out of their own way...

...In fact, some of them are actively trying to trip up the rest.

Tax, spending cuts run into trouble in US Congress

The day when people of good will abandon the Republican Party to its fate is rapidly approaching, kiddies,

Just days after Republican election setbacks, two of the party's chief priorities -- reducing domestic spending and cutting taxes -- stalled in Congress on Thursday.

After a futile day of trying to coax enough wavering Republicans to support a $50 billion spending-cut bill, leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives canceled a vote on the measure that is opposed by all House Democrats.

"We had not quite gotten there yet," House acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, told reporters as he announced Thursday's debate was being canceled on a bill that would have cut spending for some programs for the poor.

Blunt said leading Republicans would meet in coming days with "a handful of people with concerns" and "I think we'll have the votes next week" to pass the spending cuts.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the leading Democrat in the House, said, "It was a bill that was anti-family, anti-taxpayer, and anti-American."

Across Capitol Hill, a tax-cut bill that includes an extension of low taxes for some of the wealthiest Americans and is high on President George W. Bush's agenda, also hit a bump.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa came up short of votes for legislation that would have extended lower tax rates for dividends and capital gains beyond their 2008 expiration.

Grassley had to postpone a committee vote on the bill after he was unable to win the backing of fellow Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who questioned the bill's priorities.

Snowe said the tax bill should focus more narrowly on provisions, such as alternative minimum tax relief, that are about to expire. Snowe is concerned about huge budget deficits and said economic priorities had changed since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma devastated the Gulf Coast region.

The budget bill ran into trouble in the House even though leaders late on Wednesday thought they had secured enough support from moderate Republicans, who objected to a proposal to open up Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. (Thanks to Roto-Reuters for the heads up.)