The House passed a number of tax bills yesterday. In total, they voted to trim $94.5 billion from federal revenue over five years. As Concord Coalition executive director Robert Bixby aptly put it in this Washington Post article, "I don't think it makes any sense to go through all the difficulty they just went through with the budget-cutting bill, then give it all back in tax cuts. If they want to cut taxes, fine, but they are going to have to cut spending by at least that much to help the deficit, and clearly they are not willing to do that. They have to start looking reality in the face."

The House will get to work on the tax reconciliation bill when they return to D.C. the week of December 5. Vast differences between the House and Senate versions of the tax bill already threaten to impede conference negotiators, and in what promises to further complicate the situation, House GOP members appear to be split over providing excessive tax breaks to businesses in the Gulf Coast.

Following up on a previous blog posting regarding Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-IA) amendment to the reconciliation tax bill yesterday, it appears that some of his original supporters deserted him during the actual vote. His amendment, which was defeated 50-46 would have increased the amount appropriated to carry out programs under the Community Services Block Grant Act. It failed despite the fact that fifty-eight Senators signed a letter November 9 stating their support for upholding CSBG funding at $637 million in negotiations with the House on the Labor/HHS bill.