Today’s disappointing unemployment news—unemployment rose to 9.8% (the 19^th straight month of unemployment exceeding 9%) and only 39,000 jobs were created in November—only underscores the importance of preventing tax hikes on any Americans. But as House Republican Leader John Boehner lamented this morning, “Unfortunately, Democratic leaders continue to insist on wasting time with meaningless votes as they try to make it as difficult as possible to stop their job-killing tax hike.  Families and small businesses have had enough of politicians in Washington talking about creating jobs while doing everything in their power to kill more jobs.  This is exactly the kind of Washington game-playing the American people voted against on Election Day.”

Yet Democrats still don’t seem to have gotten the message. House Democrat leaders held a vote on a bill raising taxes on those making over $250,000 per year yesterday, even though, as The Wall Street Journal reports today, “[t]he legislation is doomed in the Senate.” And Senate Democrats have decided to have Saturday show votes on two of their tax hike plans, the House bill and Sen. Chuck Schumer’s “focus-group and polling data” generated plan to raise taxes on those making over $1 million per year. Of course, neither of these proposals can get 60 votes in the Senate. Reuters’ headline from last night says it all: “Senate to take symbolic votes on taxes Saturday.”

Senate Minority Leader McConnell expressed his frustration with Democrats’ game-playing last night, telling the AP Democrats need to “stop wasting time on political show-votes and focus on our priorities. It’s time to get serious. It’s time to extend the current tax rates and fund the government while cutting spending. Every day spent on a political show-vote is another day that Democrats won’t be able to debate items that should actually pass.”

Even a growing chorus of Democrats have indicated they’re not interested in raising taxes on anyone in a recession. Still, Democrat leaders persist in a political show, egged on by their liberal base. As Kimberley Strassel writes in The Wall Street Journal today, “The antitax bipartisan majority is hoping these nonsense votes are a means for liberal Democrats to work through their issues, provide themselves a little political cover, and then join the rest of the grownups at the temporary-tax-extension-for-all table. But with these folks, you never know.”

It’s time for Democrats to stop playing political games and seriously address the priorities of the American people. Wasting time on meaningless show votes only serves to demonstrate that Democrats are more concerned about the desire of their liberal base to do harm to their political adversaries than the need to do good for all Americans by stopping their taxes from going up.

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