Democrats dig in

The Daily Caller reports that House Democrats have decided that confrontation is  the way to go.

Steny Hoyer, the number two in the House Dem leadership, told Democrats at a caucus meeting this morning that they would get to vote this year on just extending the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, a senior Dem aide tells me, signaling support for a confrontational move towards the GOP that liberals have been pushing.

They will call the Republican's bluff. They will dare the Republicans to vote against a measure to head off tax increases for 98% of taxpayers.  If Republicans hold to their position, the Democrats will accuse them of abandoning the middle class. 

This is an exercise in political theater, it is not serious legislating.  Such a bill is unlikely to even be brought up in the Senate.  I think that the Democrats are signaling that they plan to address the tax code next year, as the Republicans did yesterday.  

I'm also seeing signs that the real action next year won't be about the "Bush tax cuts," it will be about stripping all the "tax expenditures" from the tax code, per the deficit commission's recommendations.

But  what about the AMT for 2010? Will that be kicked down the road as well?