Had the administration sought to make the tax cuts permanent in 2001, there would have been NO "Bush tax cuts".
By the rules of the Senate, a "permanent" tax cut is subject to filibuster -- a "temporary" (10 yrs. max.) tax cutcan be passed via reconciliation and is filibuster-proof.
At the time, the Senate was split 50-50, with VP Dick Cheney holding the deciding vote. No way a permanent tax cut gets passed under those circumstances.
If you want to blame somebody for the "temporary" status of the Bush tax cuts, blame Tom Daschle and the Democrats.
It is not so much “blame” as explain. You offer the reason why we had to pass a “tax cut” that included the clinton tax rates in 2011, and a later bill to set them to 2013.
But we are supposed to throw out the republican congress now because they are looking to make tax cuts permanent, but can’t include millionaires because of the Senate.
I’m saying that if you are going to blame people for not doing the impossible, blame the 2001 folks.