It looks like Christmas will come early for Senate Republicans today. A procedural vote is scheduled for the tax deal negotiated by President Obama and the GOP with a final vote scheduled for tomorrow. As I predicted, the final deal will look very much like the original deal with few adjustments; to appease Democrats in the Senate, some renewable energy credits will likely be added to the final version.
A vote in the House, which promises to be much more controversial, will follow. It will also pass (eventually) with some tweaking. The only wild card in the House appears to be the federal estate tax provisions; some leaders in the House have indicated that they’ll be calling for a separate vote.
There’s no question that momentum is on the side of the GOP. They’ve already managed to pull off a huge coup with this tax deal while forcing the Dems to all but roll over and take it.
One has to wonder, though, what’s going on in President Obama’s head for him to turn away from his party in such a spectacularly public fashion. Rather than be conciliatory over the weekend, Obama’s financial advisor, David Axelrod, seemed to indicate that he didn’t expect changes to the package. He also seemed to fire a shot at Democrats, telling them that it was time to move forward. He has to hope voters aren’t thinking the same thing in 2012.
