CBS News had a story today about a fee built into the two-month payroll tax cut extension approved by the House just before Christmas -- to help pay for the cut, legislators added a tenth of a percent fee to loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Rep. Allen West was featured in the piece as "one congressman... who said he tried to blow the whistle on the whole thing before Christmas."
If West was blowing any whistles, it appears he was doing so pretty quietly.
"I read the legislation, and I raised the flag. Unfortunately, no one paid attention to what I was saying at the time," West said. "It is absolutely a tax increase on [the middle class]."
What CBS omitted, however, was that the tax cut extension (and attendant fee) passed the House by unanimous consent -- which means nobody stood up against it at all. It was brought to the House floor on December 23 at 10:03 a.m. and had passed by 10:05.
Politico did run a story about two House freshmen who were considering maybe standing up against the bill, but neither of them was West, and neither of them did.
We requested comment from West but haven't heard back yet.
If you want to check out the legislation for yourself, the stuff about mortgage fees is tucked into Title IV of H.R. 3765. Video of West's CBS appearance is below.
