Dems want GOP to give up some tax cuts

[Enrique]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/the-stimulus-plot-thickens-tax-break-changes-now-on-the-table.php

The complicated state of the Senate stimulus debate just got more intense.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), one of the four Republicans considered genuinely open to cooperation with Democrats on a workable economic recovery bill, just released a statement saying she was approached by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to come up with a list of trims from the $275 billion-plus tax section of the stimulus.

To be clear, this is separate from the $80 bilion-plus package of spending cuts that are being hashed out by a group of 15 or so centrist senators from both parties.

Pruning the tax section of the stimulus is an idea that could hold promise for liberals, many of whom are concerned about the hits that education and transit would take in the centrist senators' package of cuts. The portion Snowe is looking at contains plenty of cuts, for both businesses and individuals -- some of them added in the hopes of winning GOP support -- but also a number of tax credits that could take money out of government coffers in the short term while increasing economic growth in the long term.

(...)

[democrattotheend]

1. I have to say, I like Olympia Snowe

She's one of the few Republicans I'd ever give serious thought to voting for. She has held her ground and defied her party even when they needed her vote, unlike many of the Republicans who pretend to defy their party but then vote with them in the end.

[QC]

2. Don't worry: if there is the merest whisper of a filibuster threat

our "leaders" will tuck their tails and run.

[Thrill]

3. This is old. This was before they came to an agreement