Senate Democrats Postpone Fight Over Tax Cuts

Senate Democrats have decided to delay a vote on the volatile issue of the Bush tax cuts until after the November election, the Washington Post reports. The move avoids a pre-election showdown in the chamber between Republicans, who want to extend all the expiring cuts, and Democrats, who want to extend them for all but the wealthiest Americans. Senators will instead take up the issue in November's lame-duck session.

Democrats on the liberal end of the spectrum pushed for a vote now, but they were overruled by centrists and senators in tough races, reports the Hill. The latter camp didn't want to be accused by their GOP foes of raising any taxes in a recession. Still, expect the tax cuts to be a major campaign issue in the final weeks before the election, write Alexander Bolton and Russell Berman.
(More Bush tax cuts stories.)