How Many Pay-Fors Can Dance on the Head of an Extenders Bill? Call it solomonic, metaphysical, ingenious, or disengenuous, but it appears that a great PAYGO Pact of 2008 is in the offing.

Today, the Bush Administration issued a veto threat against H.R. 5794, the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008. Please read the following and see if you can spot the non sequitur:

House Republican leadership are attempting to get their caucus to coalesce around a two-tier flat tax. The flat-tax proposal is expected to resemble a measure (HR 3818) sponsored by Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, to allow taxpayers to opt out of the current income tax system and opt into a two-tier flat tax. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., has said he supports "giving Americans a choice between filing under the current system or using a two-rate flat tax with generous deductions."

Unemployment -- What is the Fastest Vehicle?: House and Senate leaders haven't decided yet how best to pass a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the nation's 8.55 million jobless workers. The House is inclining toward a stand-alone extension bill, believing that would quickly secure a veto-proof majority. Senate leaders and some Republicans such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) say the "emergency" war supplemental "is the fastest vehicle" available. The House is expected to vote on a stand-alone version of the bill this afternoon or tomorrow. GOP Deserting Bush on UI.