Free Republic

Washington - -- The tax compromise expected to pass the Senate today and add $858 billion to the national debt is packed with much more than another year of unemployment benefits and a two-year extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts. It also contains a special-interest bonanza of spending programs disguised as tax breaks, or "tax earmarks," that range from energy and education tax credits to tax-exempt bonds for areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. California's Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer joined an overwhelming 83-15 vote Monday to move forward on the tax bill, the biggest bipartisan...