Tax Cut Passes One Day After GOP Screws the Poor

One day after Congress passed a bill to slash $40 billion in funding for healthcare, child care and student loans, the Senate approvd a $70-billion tax-cutting measure:

The five-year measure, passed on a bipartisan 66-31 vote, would extend a variety of popular tax breaks, such as business tax credits for research and development, while blunting the growing impact of the alternative minimum tax, a parallel tax system established to hit the rich but increasingly pinching the middle class. Senators loaded up the measure Thursday with new tax breaks for coal-mining safety equipment and new spending on military equipment and veterans' health care.

The Democrats who voted for the tax bill include Max Baucus (D-MT), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA).