The first tentative steps were taken today toward bipartisan, if not quite bicameral, discussion of AMT reform. An initial meeting was held among members of the House Ways and Means Committee -- "an information session, not a strategy session," according to Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-NY). That's more encouraging language than committee ranking Republcan Jim McCreary's (R-LA) take yesterday on the Democratics' draft AMT reform package: "Scary." Committee chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) has long said that a bipartisan solution to AMT is his highest legislative priority for this Congress. Today's meeting was a signal step toward achieving that goal. The difference between an AMT reform package used as 'message' material, perhaps for use by both parties in next year's presidential election campaign, and a package with (thus far lacking) bicameral support and a shot at becoming landmark tax law starts with what McCreary described as "kind of the beginning of our committee's discussion on the subject, so we'll see where that takes us." Maybe it will ultimately take Rangel and McCreary to where they ended up on the minimum wage increase tax package -- no daylight between them. That's was a scary feat of bipartisanship. The stakes are higher here.