Big 3 Blowout?

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They have a deal. They don’t have a deal. They have a deal in principal. They have a “conceptual” deal. They really and truly don’t have a deal. I’m up on Capitol Hill today and I’m getting more whiplash than if I were at Wimbledon. 

Depending on who you talk to Senate Republicans have either ditched or were kept out of the negotiations on the bill. Given the fact that Reid at best has 46 votes, the GOP is an important constituency to bring on board. For some odd reason the White House was in the room – a rather unimportant constituency unless the bill is so bad they veto it – and they claimed yesterday afternoon that there is a “conceptual” deal. Senate Republicans last night snickered at the idea of the White House signing off on a bill: “They don’t represent anybody but themselves and they don’t vote in the Senate,” one senior aide wrote to me.

Meanwhile, the House this morning is gearing up to bring the bill to the floor, even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned he would not allow the Senate to vote today. All of which is to say: if the House really does pass this bill and the Senate GOP really doesn’t like it, we could be looking at another failed bailout vote (ie: 800 points on the Dow). On behalf of my 401(k), please congressional leaders, come to an agreement!

Update
For anyone interested here is the text of the latest bill.