Biden: We Did Go to Mat on Tax Cuts

President Obama's tax-cut compromise took more than a few kicks in the teeth from the left, but Joe Biden has had enough: "We did go to the mat. A total of 130 races, I made this case. We got to the end, we couldn’t get it done, and we had to make a decision. Were we gonna let the middle-class tax cuts expire?" The veep tells Meet the Press today that the White House's No. 1 priority in 2012 is nixing "the upper income tax credit for millionaires and billionaires," as well as "the estate tax for the very wealthy." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico:

• Arizona Republican Jon Kyl officially tells Fox News Sunday he won't vote for New START in its current state. "We're not going to have time" to fix the nuclear treaty.
• Ditto, Mitch McConnell: "If they'd taken more time with this—rushing it right before Christmas, it strikes me as trying to jam us," complained the Senate minority leader.
• Ditto, Lindsey Graham, who says he's not going to give his aye "until I hear from the Russians that they understand we can develop four stages of missile defense."
• Indiana Republican and foreign policy moderate Dick Luger thinks the GOP votes are there, the problem is, drumroll, time: "I think we still have a good number of amendments to be heard and we will be doing our work shortly today."

(More Joe Biden stories.)