Tho McConnell Assails "Status Quo on Tax Policy" BNA reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed cloture today on a motion to proceed to the House-passed, PAYGO-compliant, AMT patch/tax extenders bill. The move sets up a Senate vote as early as Thurs., Dec. 6. Reid apparently tried and failed to reach agreement with the Senate Republican leadership to hold votes on three versions of the AMT patch and the tax extenders package without amendment, but the GOP continued to insist on floor time for amendments related to extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.

In an attempt to have people pay attention to the issue of the national debt, a recent Associated Press article lead with the eye-catching headline of "National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute." Wow! $1,000,000.00 a minute! That's quite a bit of cash. The article is well worth a read and should make you even more disappointed that the current Congress is considering waiving PAYGO rules for a patch to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Such a move would add $50 billion to the debt immediately and the issue will have to be revisited all over again next year because the legislation being considered is only for one year. If they pass the AMT patch without paying for it this year, I wonder if they will pay for it next year? argh...

More on the war funding debate: Congress has until mid-February before the Army will cease base operations and until March before the Marines takes similar steps, according to the Pentagon. Because of the uncertainty, the Pentagon this month will send layoff notices to an unspecified number of civilian employees whose union agreements require 60 days advance notice; the layoffs would be effective next February and could apply to as many as 100,000 civilian employees and 100,000 civilian contractors.