I don't know how much stock to put in this, but Brian Beutler says there's still a chance the House will get things right on the tax cut:
Senate Democrats officially scrapped any and all plans for a pre-election vote on middle-income tax cuts yesterday evening. And for the entirety of the tax cut debate, House Dems have said they will take action only after the Senate takes care of business. So that's it, right? No vote, no way.
There's still one way it could happen, and House aides stress that -- as unlikely as a vote may seem right now -- no official final decision has been made. That decision will likely come early next week.
If it does happen, it would proceed mostly as outlined here. Pelosi would put a middle-income-only tax cut bill on the floor under "suspension," which would require a two-thirds majority for passage, but would limit GOP procedural hijinx. If Republicans object, they will be forced to vote down middle-income tax cuts and face the wrath of voters.
Beutler notes that if the House does end up reviving the tax cut vote, they will also need to come up with some way to mollify the dingbat Blue Dogs who want to extend tax cuts to the wealthy, but assuming they can get a deal done that completely decouples the Obama tax cuts for the middle-class from the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, it's progress worth considering -- and would seem to be superior to just doing nothing.