"At the end of January, the deal easily passed the House, 357-70. Endorsements poured in from all sides. But progress stalled out in the Senate, where the bill has languished ever since.

Led by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, Republican senators have claimed to be negotiating in good faith.

However, the changes they've demanded would scuttle Democratic support for a bill already tilted toward corporate tax breaks or require finding entirely new sources of funding.

The day the deal passed the House, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, let the mask slip:

"Passing a tax bill that makes the president look good " mailing out checks before the election " means he could be re-elected," he told reporters, "and then we won't extend the 2017 tax cuts."

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Give Republicans the choice between helping children and families or kowtowing to their corporate donors?

You know how that's going to turn out.