Today in Washington D. C. - Dec 7, 2007

From Senate & News Sources: After almost a year, it appears that Congressional Democrats are finally figuring out that partisan votes and procedures have not gotten them anywhere and that compromises with Republicans can provide a way forward.The AP writes today that Democrats appear to “concede their majority status is not enough to overcome Republican resistance on taxes, spending, Iraq and a host of other issues.” Importantly, the compromises being hinted at in several news stories today would revise proposed legislation in a more conservative direction than would otherwise have been the case.

Last night, after Democrats finally agreed to drop a proposed $80 billion tax hike, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass a one-year patch to the alternative minimum tax, to prevent over 20 million taxpayers from being affected by the AMT. The onus is now on the House to follow suit and bypass Democrats’ insistence on coupling any tax cut with tax increases elsewhere.

An agreement was also reached on the farm bill last night, to allow each side of the aisle to have 20 amendments to the bill. It appears Senate Republicans will now be allowed to offer tax amendments to the bill, which includes the first tax increase in a farm bill since 1933.

Conferees agreed yesterday to strip hate crimes legislation from the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill. The unrelated language extending federal hate crimes definitions to include sexual orientation had been added by Senate Democrats to the bill in September, delaying completion of the bill, as both Congressional Republicans and the White House opposed the measure.

The AP reports today, “Democrats controlling Congress sent the most explicit signals yet on Thursday that they are resigned to providing additional funding for the war in Iraq before Congress adjourns for the year.” Despite this concession, House Democrats may offer only $30 billion in funding that could only go to operations in Afghanistan. Republicans, of course, are working to ensure funding for troops in Iraq as well.

Finally, the Senate rejected a cloture motion this morning on a House-passed energy bill that included unacceptable tax increases and renewable energy mandates that would surely have resulted in higher utility bills for Americans.

The Senate this morning rejected, by a vote of 53-42, a cloture motion on the motion to concur with the House amendment to the Democrats’ energy package (H.R. 6). After the vote, the Senate resumed consideration of the farm bill (H.R. 2419). An agreement to allow Republican amendments has finally been worked out, though it’s unclear why Democrats could not have offered a similar deal last month.

Yesterday the Senate rejected the House-passed AMT patch, which included over $80 billion in tax increases over 10 years, 46-48. Later in the day, the Senate voted 88-5 to pass a clean AMT patch.

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