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The US Senate today will formally take up the legislation to extend the Bush-era tax cuts in a deal between President Obama and the Republican party. Obama has come under fire from his own party over the deal which will extend tax cuts for everyone including the rich and super-rich, and establish an estate tax weaker than under President Bush. While the deal is being cast as a stealth stimulus, it makes the assumption that the super rich, who will retain the bulk of dollars intended as national revenue, will actually spend their saved billions to stimulate the economy. Despite the Democratic Party’s opposition, it was Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders on Friday who protested the tax cut deal in a nearly 9 hour speech on the floor of the Senate. The lone Senator filibustered the deal for as long as he could without stopping once, or even sitting down.

GUESTS: John Nichols, political writer for The Nation Magazine, contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin

Visit Bernie Sanders’ website here: http://sanders.senate.gov/