How Much Time Will Congress Waste On Bush Tax Cut Fight When Everyone Knows What The End Game Will Be?

It appears that Democrats will be playing a little political theater for their liberal base, the whole time knowing what the outcome will be and what the end game will result in.

The lame duck session is now in session and there are issues to be dealt with before next year where Republicans take control of the House of Representatives and the weakened Democratically controlled Senate comes back from vacation to start work again.

From recent comments from Democratic sources such as Harry Reid, it appears that the Bush tax cuts will be extended temporarily for everyone, middle class and the wealthy, yet media is touting a "battle" before such a compromise is had.

Congressional Democrats, under pressure from their liberal wing, are preparing to put up a fight over tax relief for wealthier Americans before they agree to any compromise with Republicans that could extend the Bush-era breaks.

If the compromise position to extend all Bush tax cuts temporarily is proposed immediately, Republicans have already indicated they will vote for it and in order to stop the tax cuts from expiring on everyone, Democrats indicate they also will vote for it.

But nothing is that easy in Congress, so they are going to pretend to battle it out just to temporarily extend them all anyway.

The focal point on taxes will be breaking the impasse between Republicans who want all the Bush-era tax cuts to be made permanent and Democrats who, like Mr. Obama, want to make them permanent only for families with income under $250,000. Although both sides are digging in now, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) said the compromise path was clear.

"What's likely to happen is there will be an extension of the tax cuts for everybody for a period of time," Mr. Dorgan said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Why waste what little time Congress has during the lame duck session fighting over an issue that most already have said they have a compromise for?

Answer, so Democrats can tell their liberal base "we tried."

(Corrections made to this post)

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