McConnell, Kyl, & Grassley Browbeat Biz-Boys The Senate again today defeated a cloture motion (to permit voting) on the bill to extend a raft of popular tax breaks, by a vote of 52-44. 379 large U.S. companies, among them Bank of America, Boeing, Citigroup, Ford Motor Co., Pfizer and Walt Disney, wrote the Senate a letter yesterday warning that failing to approve tax extension provisions could harm the economy. Mindful that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and House Ways & Means chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) are adamant about paying for the extenders bill, the companies have made it clear they are determined to see the bill pass, even if it complies with PAYGO. Word on the Hill is that some of those business leaders met this afternoon with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and got a talking to. The Senators told them support for Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus' (D-MT) extenders bill -- which complies with PAYGO -- would threaten their relationship with conservative lawmakers, "ma[king] it very clear to the business community that they have the votes to block cloture," according to a lobbyist present at the meeting. The reason for the tough talk? The business community may not oppose the offsets contained in the Baucus bill, the Senators told them, but they might oppose future offsets and Republicans must be consistent in their opposition.