Democrats block tax bill

House Democrats have blocked Barack Obama’s tax cuts agreement with Congressional Republicans, to which Harry Reid is reportedly intending to attach his poker bill.

According to US media reports, Democrats are angry that the deal Obama struck on Monday is too generous to wealthy Americans by extending tax rates for the top two tiers of earners, and are demanding changes.

The vote in a Democrat-only caucas meeting is not binding but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a statement:

“We will continue discussions with the President and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote.”

The Senate may begin debating the tax cuts proposal as early as Thursday (today). Senate Majority leader Reid however didn’t promise a vote time for the bill to the Senate floor.

“As far as future votes, stay tuned”, he said.

Reid’s poker legalisation proposal remains in circulation among Congressional legislators, with Reid telling the Las Vegas Sun he was still pushing for legislation during the lame duck session, despite the paper reporting earlier that Reid had been quoted as saying he would be dropping the proposal.