Democratic Senators Not Fond of Obama's Tax Cuts ...
... though it's not the questionably valuable business tax benefits that are catching the most flak. Before Democrats ducked into a private briefing with Obama's White House economic adviser-in-waiting, Larry Summers, those on the Senate finance committee had a closed-door session to talk shop on the stimulus. They came out decidedly unimpressed by Obama's proposed payroll tax cuts -- which amount to $500 per person, distributed in small amounts over several paychecks.
The Democratic senators were equally doubtful about Obama's proffered $3,000 tax credit to business that hire new workers. As Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), a bellwether centrist, told CNN:
I think it's unlikely to be effective. If you think about it, business people are not going to hire people to produce products that are not selling. Who is going to hire in the auto industry if you give them a $3,000 credit to make cars that people are not buying?
No one's saying this will bring down the bill. In fact, the House ways and means committee is already said to be scheduling drafting sessions. But stepping back to look at the timeframe, the stimulus will still need to be cleared by as many as three committees on each side of the Capitol by the end of Inauguration week, which leaves three more weeks for simultaneous debate in both houses of Congress as well as a conference committee to produce a unified final product.
The old question about deadline pressure still applies.

So with Chris Matthews
This move has been
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Norm Coleman is now a Senate un-person.
The Senate
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While Democrats and Barack Obama are hard at work
Barack Obama just finished
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An MSNBC executive has announced that Chris Matthews 












