Today's Wall Street Journal includes an odd squib, Bill to Raise Minimum Wage Might Include Tax Breaks. It opens, "Democratic tax writers hope to reach a deal on a minimum-wage bill that would include about $5 billion in tax breaks to help businesses affected by the higher pay levels." "Might Include Tax Breaks"? That's hardly news; we've been reporting on it for months. But $5 billion? Is that the long-awaited compromise in the months-old stand-off between House Ways and Means chair Charles Rangel and Senate Finance chair Max Baucus? One would have expected much more fanfare, as Rangel and Baucus appeared to be $11 billion apart at last report. (Or is it the amount in the two versions that everyone can agree would "help businesses affected by" the minimum wage hike?) The piece ends, "Democrats have decided th[e supplemental] will be the vehicle to enact the final minimum-wage compromise." Now that would be news. After all, when Speaker Pelosi added the minimum wage to the supplemental spending bill, Rangel and several other tax writers expressed concern that party leaders sought to circumvent the Ways ands Means and Finance Committees.