In a must-read survey of the coming month’s Congressional agenda, the Wall Street Journal reports today that “House leaders are considering a pre-election bid to make permanent the $1,000 child tax credit and marriage penalty relief provisions enacted in 2001.’ Really? Tax cuts aimed at the middle class, from the Congress that has flogged estate tax repeal to the point of, well, death, that cannot pass extensions of the welfare-to-work credit and the college tuition deduction? This is deftly explained as follows: Like most of the Bush administration's tax breaks, these are due to expire at the end of 2010, when top rates for the wealthy and capital gains also will be in play. The strategy has been to wait until close to the deadline and then call up all of these issues at once, making it harder for Democrats to resist. But in the current political climate, the leadership could accelerate action on provisions for middle-income taxpayers if it means preserving Republican control of Congress in November. How desperate are Congressional leaders? Even an increase in the minimum wage is on the GOP table: Many Republican leaders prefer to avoid the issue, but Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH), who heads up the party conference and finds herself in an unusual battle for re-election calls it "a matter of fairness" and the real question is to find a sweetener for small-business employers who would be most affected.