Senate Votes to Gut Bush Tax Proposal

With our country at war, the last thing President Bush wants is a mutiny -- but that's exactly what he just got.

This mutiny isn't taking place on the battlefield, nor does it have anything to do with foreign policy. Rather, the Senate just gutted the administration's cornerstone piece of domestic policy: the proposed tax cuts.

In a remarkable vote Tuesday afternoon, the Senate hacked away at President Bush's proposed $726 billion tax cut and instead voted 51 to 48 in favor of a $350 billion tax cut.

Sponsored by a bipartisan coalition, the $350 billion tax-cut package was initially defeated last Friday in a 62-38 vote, largely because several moderate senators -- such as Arizona Republican John McCain and South Carolina Democrat Ernest Hollings -- refused to vote in favor of any tax cuts, particularly while the nation is at war. ...