Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, reiterated yesterday that the one-year adjustment to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) from impacting millions of additional taxpayers this year will not be paid for - ensuring an additional $70 billion will be added to the deficit.

Two Big Picture Books on Fiscal Policy A two-week congressional recess affords us the opportunity to take a big picture look at some big fiscal policy problems. And two recently published big picture books reviewed yesterday in the Washington Post and the New York Times seek to sharpen the focus on different aspects of that picture, though apparently with differing degrees of success. "Where Does the Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis" by Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson (Collins, $16.95 in paperback) draws a rave from the Times (A Proposed Diet for the U.S. Budget):

A bid by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to ban the practice of earmarking for one year measure failed on a vote of 29-71. The amendment fell on a procedural vote after a point of order, which required 60 votes to waive, was raised against it because it was ruled "non-germane" to the budget resolution. Presidential candidates John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama all voted in favor of the amendment. Other than Clinton and Obama, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) the only Democrat to support the measure. GOP Senator were split, 26-23.

Budget Resolution -- The Final Lap

• House: The House adopted its budget resolution by 212-207 after rejecting the GOP substitute amendment by a vote of 157-263, which 38 Republican members opposed -- it sought to reduce mandatory spending by $412.4 billion over five years. The Progressive Caucus budget lost 98-322; the Black Caucus bill was rejected 126-292.
• Senate: After 15 hours of vote-a-rama, the Senate passed its own resolution,