House Democrats are actually planning to bring a middle class tax cut extension only to a vote this week. That’s a pretty dramatic turnaround from the days right after the election when the White House was signaling that it would go along with an extension of the tax cuts for all income levels. It also seemed extremely unlikely that if the Democrats didn’t have the spine to bring the tax cuts up for a vote before the election that they’d find the wherewithal to do it after getting shellacked in the midterms. But a vote is virtually assured at this point.

All that being said, it’s very uncertain that there are enough votes to pass the middle class cuts only. And in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s not exactly a rip-roaring public campaign by Democrats in Congress or by the White House to rally support and drum up votes.

David Kurtz

David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.