(White House/Pete Souza)
–Obama’s tax cut deal is poised to sail through the Senate today.
–What you missed Sunday: House Dems want to excise the estate tax concession. Rep. Van Hollen says they’re “not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day.” The White House doesn’t want to change anything.
–Treasury kicks the tires and plugs the deal. Robert Costa writes Krauthammer’s column is giving some Republicans pause.
–Philip Klein makes the case for conservative support:
If some conservatives still feel that the unemployment subsidies and tax credits are not worth swallowing, that’s one thing. But we should still recognize that an overwhelming majority of the deal is stuff that conservatives have either been actively campaigning for or would be perfectly comfortable with.
–Paul Krugman makes the case for liberal dissent:
Highly indebted Americans not only can’t spend the way they used to, they’re having to pay down the debts they ran up in the bubble years…. government spending needs to be sustained: we’re not talking about a brief burst of aid; we’re talking about spending that lasts long enough for households to get their debts back under control.
–Michael Steele is expected to announce whether he’ll seek another term as RNC chair today. Mike Allen says he won’t.
–Retiring Senator Evan Bayh is passing on a gubernatorial bid in 2012. A couple of observations: 1) He was the Democrats’ best shot at taking back Indiana’s governor’s mansion; 2) this likely makes a run for governor all the more attractive to Republican Rep. Mike Pence, who’s expected to seek higher office in some form next cycle; 3) Bayh left a lot of money on the table — $10,262,592 in his campaign coffers at last count. What he’ll do with all that money and his future is still unclear.
–Helene Cooper looks at the vice president’s new role as pointman on the Hill and gets this gem from Anthony Weiner: “Biden brings everything that Rahm Emanuel brings, but the major difference is everyone likes Joe Biden.”
–The future of Race to the Top, Obama’s flagship education policy, is uncertain under the incoming GOP-led House.
–Spencer Bachus, the next House Financial Services chair, defines a “main street” view of oversight:
Bachus, in an interview Wednesday night, said he brings a “main street” perspective to the committee, as opposed to Wall Street.
“In Washington, the view is that the banks are to be regulated, and my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks,” he said.
–Louise Story reports there’s a big bank cartel trying to dominate the derivatives market. Felix Salmon thinks there’s another side to the story.
–John Thune and Tim Pawlenty, both looking to capitalize on home-state proximity in a potential presidential primary, eye Iowa.
–Pawlenty has an op-ed in today’s Journal railing against public employee unions’ “silent coup.”
–And please indulge a moment of media navel-gazing: The Atlantic turns a heartening and well-deserved profit for the first time in my memory; and Gawker gets hacked.
What did I miss?
