Senate Democrats are moving full-speed ahead with a package to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years, despite a vote by House Democrats earlier Thursday expressing strong disapproval of the proposal.

House Democrats during a private meeting opted by voice vote to reject the extension of tax cuts unless substantial changes were made to the package, but the gesture seemed to have little impact in the Senate.

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“Basically the White House wrote this bill with the Republican leadership. There are some other provisions that senators want, but essentially the four corners of the agreement are what was negotiated between the White House and Sen. McConnell — we’ll see. Very little might be added,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus Max Sieben BaucusBottom line Bottom line The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - George Floyd's death sparks protests, National Guard activation MORE (D-Mont.), in reference to Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGOP senators pan debate: 'S---show,' 'awful,' 'embarrassment' 'One more serious try' on COVID-19 relief yields progress but no deal The Hill's Campaign Report: Debate fallout l Trump clarifies remarks on Proud Boys l Down to the wire in South Carolina MORE (Ky.).

When asked about the impact of the House Democratic vote, Baucus said “everything has an impact” and compared it to a tree falling in the forest. But Baucus’s metaphor calls into question just how much of an impact, since the saying asks: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Senators suggested that the House meeting didn’t make much noise across the Capitol, as many of them were only vaguely aware of it.

“I just sort of heard about it third-hand,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).

Senators said they expected to receive a draft of the package, which would extend almost all of the Bush tax cuts by two years and federal unemployment benefits for 13 months, by Thursday evening.

The emergence of a detailed proposal hours after the House Democratic vote suggests the action in the lower chamber didn’t spur Senate and White House negotiators to make any drastic changes.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), an influential member of the Finance Committee, said it would be very difficult to change major provisions of the agreement, such as language setting the estate tax at 35 percent only for inheritances that exceed $5 million.

“I think it’s very hard to get things changed,” he said.

A senior Democratic aide said House Democrats might become more amenable to the package after reviewing some of the targeted tax breaks that have been included.

“That [House] meeting was a catharsis,” said the aide, noting that it gave angry liberals a chance to vent their frustrations. “They may come around when they see some of the things we’ve added.”

Sen. Tom Harkin Thomas (Tom) Richard HarkinThe Memo: Trump attacks on Harris risk backfiring Ernst challenges Greenfield to six debates in Iowa Senate race Biden unveils disability rights plan: 'Your voices must be heard' MORE (D-Iowa) said Thursday the Senate package will extend an expiring ethanol tax credit for one year at the current rate, and will also extend an expiring federal grant program for renewable electricity projects.

Even outspoken Senate liberals such as Harkin and Sen. Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell BrownMnuchin says he and Pelosi have agreed to restart coronavirus stimulus talks Harris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Remote work poses state tax challenges MORE (D-Ohio) haven’t ruled out voting for the tax package, even though they firmly oppose extending tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 a year.

Senate Democratic aides said a vote to begin consideration of the tax package would likely not happen until Monday, but cautioned it could take place on Saturday.

“We’re currently filing cloture on the tax package, so the question is whether there is a vote Saturday or held off until Monday,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

Senate sources expect the House to debate and pass it next week, despite Thursday’s vote of no confidence.

A Senate aide noted that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) predicted during a television interview Thursday morning that House Democrats would have little choice but to fall into line.

“We'll see pretty soon hopefully what the Senate is going to do, and I think the objective that the president has tried to reach is the objective that we need to reach, and that is on the one hand we need to grow the economy,” Hoyer said during an appearance on MSNBC.

“Obviously, we need to address the deficit in the longer term, but as [Federal Reserve Chairman] Ben Bernanke said, if we don't address growing the economy in the short term, we're not going to be able to achieve the second objective of bringing the deficit down,” he added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took a harder line later in the day.

"We will continue discussions with the president and our Democratic and Republican colleagues in the days ahead to improve the proposal before it comes to the House floor for a vote," Pelosi said in a statement.

But White House press secretary Robert Gibbs predicted Thursday that House Democrats would ultimately allow the package to pass.

“At the end of the day” the bill will pass both houses, Gibbs predicted at his daily press briefing.





—Ben Geman and Sam Youngman contributed to this report.