Via the Washington Post:

Congress approved the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade late Thursday, overcoming liberal resistance to continue for two more years tax breaks enacted under president George W. Bush and to provide a fresh boost of federal support to the tepid economic recovery.

The package, brokered by President Obama and Republican leaders in the wake of the November elections, angered many Democrats, who have long argued that the Bush tax cuts were skewed to benefit the wealthy. But their last-minute campaign to scale back the bill’s benefits for taxpayers at the highest income levels failed, and the House passed the measure 277 to 148, with 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voting “no.”

I really don’t think this debate was about the nuts and bolts of the tax cut deal. Debates like this rarely are. There’s going to be a lot of ink and pixels spilled on the debate as to whether or not this bill is the last referendum on the Bush administration or the next salvo in the War on Class. I give it another couple of days of punditry before it goes into hibernation until the primaries start for the 2012 presidential election. Which means it will be back in a couple of months.