Senate Democrats are looking about, “giving retirees tax rebates, extending unemployment benefits, boosting heating subsidies for the poor and temporarily increasing food stamp payments.”

This is great politics!!!, and here’s why:

• Republican or Democrat, the Senate is smarting at having not been involved in the negociations, and there is a bipartisan consensus, in fact a near unanimous consensus that the Senate’s prerogatives should be respected in that body.
• Getting more money to retirees is a politically powerful thing, because senior citizens vote.
• There is widespread political support for extending unemployment benefits in the real (i.e. outside of DC) world.
• Increasing food stamp payments will be seen as being good for American farmers, who figure prominently in a number of red states.
• Heating subsidies for the poor is also very popular nationwide.

On a policy level, if they were to strike the business tax credits, which will take months to have any effect, and are very inefficient, that would be a good thing.