In exchange the Republicans will graciously agree to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed.
Senior Democrats on Sunday said that they were resigned to defeat in the highly charged tax debate, and they voiced dismay.
“We’re moving in that direction,” Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat said dejectedly when Bob Schieffer, host of “Face the Nation” on CBS, asked him if the 2001 and 2003 tax rates would be extended even for the wealthy. “And we’re only moving there against my judgment,” Mr. Durbin added.
In meetings with administration officials after the Senate votes, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and many other House and Senate Democrats voiced deep unhappiness at the prospect of extending all the tax cuts and also expressed their belief that the White House did not appear to be getting enough for such a big concession, officials said.
That sort of anger raised the likelihood that Republicans would have to generate large numbers of votes to advance any deal in Congress, much as they did to help approve the big financial system bailout at President George W. Bush’s request in 2008.
As to how to pay for it…
…Bernanke also warned about the dangers of the nation’s fast-growing debt, which will be increased by $4 trillion or more over 10 years as a result of the tax deal being worked out by Republicans and the White House, and said policy makers must start thinking now about the “long-term structural deficit.”
Guess they will figure that out later
