In an interview with BNA($) yesterday, House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) indicated a willingness to consider a compromise on the $8.3 billion tax cut package the Senate seems certain to attach to its version of the minimum wage bill. As noted below, on Jan. 10 the House passed H.R. 2, a "clean" wage increase bill that attracted the support of 82 GOP House members. Yesterday, the Senate voted 87-10 to limit debate and amendments on a version of H.R. 2 that contains the $8.3 in small business tax breaks and revenue offsets approved by the Senate Finance Committee Jan. 17.

Constitutional scholars agree: Congress has the power to shape war policy. Army Times has more. A panel of constitutional scholars said Tuesday that Congress clearly has the power, if it chooses to use it, to stop the war in Iraq. The difficulty in exercising the power is political, not constitutional, in getting a veto-proof majority in the House and Senate to agree on binding legislation to either cut off funding for combat operations or repeal the previously passed authorization to use force, the legal experts said in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Democrats have unveiled their long-term CR proposal. Looks like they've made the best out of a bad sitution. From AP: Democrats unveiled a $463.5 billion catchall spending bill late Monday to boost funding for community health centers, lower-income college students and efforts to combat AIDS overseas — while sticking within the confines of President Bush's tight constraints for the ongoing budget year.

Last week, the Center on Budget provided an important reminder that most of the nearly $1 trillion in tax expenditures in FY 2006 took the form of deductions rather than credits and that "tax deductions are larger for households in higher tax brackets or with higher deductible expenses -- and may be nonexistent for households that take the standard deduction or have no income tax liability."