The tax bill Chicanery, but a boon to Bush

摘要

Transfixed by the earthquake in the Senate, many congressmen paid precious little attention to the details of the tax bill they passed on May 26th. The Democrats, in particular, were desperate to get the bill passed, since Jim Jeffords's departure from the Republican Party, and hence the Democrats' sudden ability to take control of the Senate, would become reality only after the bill was out of the way. They may soon rue their urgency. For not only have Washington's lawmakers passed legislation that even by their own low standards is rather awful, but this legislation offers both short-run and longer-term help to Republican tax-cutters.