Steven Pearlstein, the business columnists for the Washington Post, has a blistering expose on Sen. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) in today's paper. Pearlstein wonders how (or perhaps why?) Sen. Baucus was able to work his way to the top of the Democrats' list to lead the Finance Committee when many if not all of his views on committee business are essentially contrary to the Democratic Party platform. A few excerpts:

Bush says he's for a minimum wage increase...that comes with tax and regulatory breaks for business. See the story here. President Bush endorsed one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress, a $2.10-an-hour minimum wage increase _ and on a faster timetable than they have proposed. But his support comes with a catch. Bush said at a Wednesday news conference that any pay hike should be accompanied by tax and regulatory relief for small businesses, potentially a tough sell for Democrats, who are about to reassume control of the House and Senate.

The Brookings Institute's Katrina Index, which is still performing the invaluable task of tracking the Gulf Coast recovery, reports today that inadequate public services seem to be slowing down the pace of the recovery in New Orleans. Bad public services have may caused stagnation in the housing market particularly, as former residents have been reluctant to move back to neighborhoods that lack adequate sanitation, electricity, gas and water services.

Though popular, the tax extenders package that seems headed for approval today is not without its perverse aspects. For instance, a funding patch for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was stripped out of the package, at the same time that funding for Health Savings Accounts (HSA) was added. SCHIP benefits low-income children- HSAs the wealthy and privileged. For more, see this statement by Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorites. It has been known all year that without additional SCHIP funding, 17 states would face SCHIP