Here’s that discharge petition that Tim Walz put together in an attempt to bring the Senate-passed tax bill to the House floor, the one that extends Bush-era tax rates on the first $250,000 of income. Right now it has the support of 178 Democrats and no Republicans.

It’s a chore figuring out which 13 Democrats don’t support the discharge petition, but it seems like a formality to me. If Heath Shuler and Dan Boren can sign it, pretty much any Democrat can

Since returning to the control of Republicans, the House has returned to the “Hastert rule,” (named for the former House Speaker, Denny Hastert) where only legislation that has a majority of votes among the majority, rather than a majority of votes overall, will get a vote on the floor. The Senate’s tax bill, which extends the Bush-era tax rates only on the first $250,000 of income, fits into this sweet spot. It probably has enough votes to pass but not enough to capture a majority of Republicans. Therefore, John Boehner rejects bringing it to the floor.

While the American Jobs Act failed a cloture vote last night, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act passed the Senate on a final vote. That bill would allow the Commerce Department to target currency manipulators like China with tariffs proportional to their currency manipulation if industries or unions file complaints. And it would force [...]