Senate Democrats duped the usual GOP suspects, Lincoln Chafee, John McCain, Olympia Snow (and her colleague Susan Collins), into requiring a super majority to pass any more tax cuts, or make the current tax rates permanent. Apparently seizing less of your money is such an important decision, it cannot be trusted to a mere 50 senators.

Given that the Democrats are in the minority (and not likely to retake the Senate this year) the measure is a boon to Senate Democrats who want to advance their high tax agenda. If they do nothing, the tax rates will revert back to the Clinton rates, which is exactly what most Democrats want. That means that beginning next year, we could all be paying more in taxes. Combine that with the huge tax increases that most states have been pushing through, and America could end up much worse off than they were before the Bush tax cuts.

The GOP has worked hard to gain a majority in the Senate, yet if the this amendment sticks it is all for naught. Given that it only impacts tax cuts and not spending increases or new entitlement programs, the amendment pretty much only impacts Republicans. That is, unless Democrats were trying to push a tax cut through that Republicans wanted to block. But this ain't Bizarro World.