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So Much For a Vote Today
Talking Points Memo — ... Looks like Harry Reid is telling negotiators on the stimulus bill that if they're going to cut the size of the spending provisions, then they should reduce some of the tax cuts in the bill, too. ...

Obama: Taking It To The Streets
Firedoglake — ... , which would not be effective stimulus.  And Olympia Snow says that Reid approached her to work with leadership to reduce the tax cut portion of the bill.  It's an interesting piece of gamesmanship in what's looking like an all-out war to get this thing passed in some form that will be effective. ...

Reid Puts Eliminating GOP Tax Cuts On the Stimulus Negotiating Table
TalkLeft — This is a shrewd move from Senate Majority Leader Reid: Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), one of the four Republicans considered genuinely open to cooperation with Democrats on a workable economic recovery bill, just released a statement saying she was approached by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to come up with a list of trims from the $275 billion-plus tax section of the stimulus[:] I was approached this morning and asked to work directly with leadership to amend the tax section of the stimulus bill in order to develop compromise language ...

Where we are now
Political Animal — ... , wanting to cut more from the bill than Democrats are prepared to accept; Snowe is looking into the tax-cut portions of the bill to find possible savings; and no one seems to be sure what Specter's up to. Just to step back for a moment, Obama won an impressive national victory in November, Democrats increased their Senate majority to 58 (59, with Minnesota), and Democrats now enjoy a 77-seat majority in the House. Despite all of this, the strength of the U.S. economy is largely dependent right now on the arbitrary whims of these three center-right Republicans. Senate ...

This is More Like It
Daily Kos — ... carefully. ... The funding goes directly to school districts, they are stimulative because they maintain jobs instead of cutting jobs.” Never mind the obligatory Politico editorializing on the "swankiness" of the retreat venue, or their efforts to say she's somehow in disagreement with Obama, good for Pelosi. As the Senate continues on its foolishness, the House drawing the line on this is important. Speaking of the Senate, this is also a positive development: Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME), one of the four Republicans ...