Democrats: Fine, We'll Pass Your Crummy Tax Deal

Democrats haven't stopped complaining about President Obama’s tax cut deal—one House member even called it Obama's "Gettysburg"—but it looks like they’ll pass it anyway, Time reports. “We're not going to hold this thing up at the end of the day,” said Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Steny Hoyer, meanwhile, told Politico that, "we will pass a bill, as opposed to not passing anything."

Hoyer last week slammed tax cuts for the rich as “ransom,” but today said “action is necessary and compromise inevitable." Some House lawmakers were likely won over by the green energy provisions the Senate added to the deal. But even some environment-friendly lawmakers are still railing against the bill; Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont called it "grossly unfair" and said that adding "Christmas tree ornaments" like the energy provision "erodes support and feeds public cynicism." (More congressional Democrats stories.)