Here Comes the Obama Tax Cut

The Republican plans on the fiscal cliff are becoming obsolete faster than Republicans can devise new plans.

The latest plan: blame the Senate.

Boehner’s message to House Republicans was the same as what he’s saying privately to other party leaders. Boehner said the nation is “on the edge of the fiscal cliff” and added that the Senate hasn’t given the House a reason to return.

“We are waiting on the Senate,” the Ohio Republican told lawmakers.He added that the Senate needs to pass bills and then “the House will then consider whether to accept the bills as amended, or to send them back to the Senate with additional amendments. The House will take this action on whatever the Senate can pass — but the Senate must act.”

That plan will become obsolete Monday. Sometime early that week, perhaps Monday itself, the president will appear on TV to offer the "Obama tax cut": the fourth biggest tax cut in American history after the Reagan, Kennedy, and George W. Bush tax cuts.

Experts will note that the "Obama tax cut" is basically the 2001 Bush tax cut re-enacted, with benefits for the uppermost brackets lopped off, and probably various redistributive measures packed in for the lower brackets. The plan is already written, we can be sure.

How will the House Republicans react to that? That's the next question and it will arise fast.