No they won't. The US Senate is still in the control of the Democrats and they'll be able to cobble together enough votes to filibuster. They only need 41 to be successful, and they have 54 Democrat Senators.
And if they get that far, you can bet that Obama will be secretly cheering them on in the background.
And they can do a full-court media press designed to hurt the Republicans if the unemployment benefits are not extended.
This is not over yet if these house democrats get up a head of steam.
OK, the Dems do a reverse. They will get hammered again in 2012. They are not going to get away with it without getting badly stomped.
The Dims have 22 Senators up for elections in 2012. I bet they don't have the guts to play lemmings again as the did the last 2 years. When and need be in January, the Repub House passes the law to keep the tax rates in place, the Dim senators will not have the intestinal fortitude. They'll whine like 5 year old girls but will pass the Bush tax cuts. Game set match.
A couple points. The Rat Senators will be painted into a corner. Unemployment will not drop below 9% next year and ending the unemployment benefits will be their fault. Also, the only way to get the economy growing fast enough by 2012 to get unemployment moving below 9% is to resolve the tax liability business faces.
If the Rats stop this we will suffer in the short term, but in the long term by crippling the economy with higher taxes the American public will not only give the Pubs the Senate, but the Presidency as well.