Extenders bill could hit House floor Thursday

House Democrats appear to have the votes to tee up a $145 billion tax extenders bill for House floor action on Thursday with the aim of clearing Congress before the Memorial Day recess.  

The House Rules Committee expects to take up the measure tonight, after the panel dispenses with votes on nearly 200 amendments to the Defense authorization measure. It's unknown what time that will happen, according to a committee aide. 

After several days of House Democratic negotiations within their own ranks and the Senate, the formerly $200 billion bill was scaled back to about $145 billion, with $95 billion not paid for, compared with an estimated $134 billion previously. 

A Congressional Budget Office score on the measure was expected sometime Wednesday night, according to a senior Democratic aide. 

The Senate is planning several votes Thursday on a nearly $60 billion war supplemental and could possibly act on the tax extenders and social spending package over the weekend. 

A 'doc fix', a term describing a delay in Medicare payment cuts to physicians, also will be trimmed back to 19 months from three-and-a-half years, running through December 2011.

An extension of unemployment benefits and the COBRA insurance subsidy will run through November, holding the unpaid cost of the bill under $100 billion, potentially satisfying some Democrats who opposed the bill's high cost. 

The tax portion of the bill would remain intact, meaning a permanent tax increase on carried interest and S corporations would become law.