ezra klein, columnist for "the washington post" and karen finish ne, former commune kalgss director for the democratic national committee. let's all listen to what robert gibbs will to say today. >> the framework that the president introduced a little more than a week ago has, as you heard others say, has been changed to add the energy tax credits that were important to the president and a number of democrats. so i think the senate's going to pass that and that's going to be the basis of which the house takes up that legislation. obviously, we think it's also the basis for what will become the agreement that the president will sign. >> ezra, is this going to be easy, as robert gibbs is trying to make it sound? >> nothing's ever easy. what the house wants to do, actually, is vote on the tax. they want to take that out and bring it back to '09 levels instead of where it is now in the compromise, which is 5 million exemption, 35%. if they do that, senate republicans will not pass the bill. they'll go back to the senate. they won't pass it. right now, the important factor here is that repub

. >>> let's turn to msnbc contributor ezra klein. good evening. >> good evening. >> let's start with the mr.ess in the house as opposed to the mess in the senate. >> they were going back and forth on rules. they're fighting over the estate tax fix. it's very important to realize how cramped a debate this is. what the democrats want is an estate tax with a $3.5 million exemption. what the republicans want is 5 million. if nobody does anything, the estate tax that comes in is 1 million. that would raise 700,000. what the democrats want is closer to what the republicans want than what would happen if we did nothing. there is a lot of sound and fury in the house over a deal that isn't that different. over an amendment that wouldn't change the house that much. what's going on now is a debate over rules. originally, we'll have a rule in which you had to vote on the amendment. if you voted for the amendment qualify then the tax bill was passed. first you could vote on the amendment and then the tax deal separately. >> what's the big deal on

ezra klein is an msnbc contributor and reporter for the "washington post." ra, let's talk through the policy of this. you had a fascinating interview over the weekend with an economist from the bush era days. glenn hubbard. and he had some interesting takes on what should happen with tax policy going forward. tell me about it. >> sure. so glenn hubbard was the first chairman of the council of economic advisers. he helped write the tax cuts. he said, you know, i wouldn't support a permanent extension at this point. i said why not? they're yours. you should like them. he said, you can't decide what your taxes are going to look like until you decide how big government should be. he said if we're going to have a government like the one barack obama and the democrats prefer, we can't have the bush tax cuts. they don't raise enough money. if we were going to have one like george w. bush had, we also can't have the tax cuts. >> did he say that? the size that bush had with the medicare prescription drug benefit. for instance. set the costs of the wars aside for a min

karen hunter, "the washington post" ezra klein and sophia nelson. is this a done deal or could the house have something to say about this? >> they could have something to say about it. the odds are it's more of a done deal than people are letting on. with the deals it's wise for the two sites to build and something to, negotiated up or down a little bit so people feel like they've got something. there's talk of green energy tax credits, pelosi wants them, that's a get she can bring to her members. i do not expect it to change dramatically in the coming days. i think the smart money is that it passes. >> is this the best deal the president could have gotten? >>> >> i don't know. a bunch of millionaires making decisions for rest of us and i'm sick and tired of -- >> middle class americans voted in those. >> howard dean is not an economics expert. he's a doctor. and a lot of these folks are making decisions based on political positions not based on what's best for the american people. >> i hear this a lot, i think a lot of smart friends, i have a lot o