Just briefly, the Senate as expected passed the tax cut deal by a 81-19 vote. The bill moves to the House, and all expectations are it will pass there as well. Here are the 19 no votes:

Sanders, Sessions, Udall (CO), Udall (NM), Voinovich, Wyden, Feingold, Gillibrand, Hagan, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Merkley, Bingaman, Coburn, DeMint, Dorgan, Ensign

You’ve no doubt seen all the whinging from liberal Democrats calling this the hardest vote they’ve ever had to take. OK.

By the way, I just wanted to make this clear: Jim DeMint opposed this bill. He voted against cloture for it as well. But when he chose a bill to needlessly delay and obstruct, he picked… new START and the omnibus. Those were the ones on which he forced a full reading on the Senate floor. Not the tax cut bill.

In case you were wondering the difference between being against something, and actually being against something.