The AP is calling it a compromise and in some ways, it is. R's got stricter enforcement, cheap labor and their ridiculous wall (as well as the ability to keep Manolo, the bathroom attendent of whom Frist has become so fond). The D's got a clear path for immigrants to be naturalized as well as other goodies. Of course, there are ALWAYS some hateful bitches who just want to rain shit on the parade.

"This is amnesty," added David Vitter, R-La., who tried last week to strip out provisions relating to citizenship.

Not so, said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in a rebuttal to weeks of debate. "They have to pay a fine. They have to undergo a criminal background check. They have to pay back taxes, they have to learn English and they have to go to the back of the line," he said, referring to illegal immigrants who would apply for citizenship.

It's unclear when Snow will offer his resignation and the president said he has heard nothing about it.

"He has not talked to me about resignation," Bush said at a news conference Thursday night. "I think he 's doing a fine job. After all, our economy is strong," Bush said, fielding reporters' questions in an appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"He's tired of being Bush's bitch on economic policy," said one aide close to Secretary Snow. "He's really focused on a running a company into the ground while reaping millions for himself... do you happen to know if GM is in the market for a new CEO?"

Honestly, if this really does happen, I couldn't be happier. Good riddance, John Snow.

Frist originally wanted to vote on a repeal of the Estate Tax last year, immediately after Katrina battered the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, EVERYONE pointed out that while poor people were dying in the street Congress should really be focused on something other than a tax cut for billionaires. Given that the news from Katrina has died down, Frist and his puppet, Senator Kyl of Arizona, have decided to bring it up again... this time as 'reform' which is republicanese for 'buttfucking the poor and middle classes'.

While passage of full repeal of the estate tax does not appear likely in the Senate (repeal passed in the House last April), a back-door repeal proposal put forth by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) could potentially garner enough support to pass in the Senate. Kyl's "reform," supported by a number of Republicans, would likely raise the estate tax exemption level to $5 million ($10 million per couple) and set the tax rate at 15 percent, equal to that of the capital gains tax. This reform previously reported on by OMB Watch amounts to little more than repeal, because it would cost upwards of 90 percent of the cost of full repeal.