Reid Looks to Trim Tax Cuts from Stimulus

As Republicans blast the Senate stimulus package as wasteful and call for a greater focus on tax cuts, the Senate Democratic leadership is looking to strip some of those cuts from the package along with other spending, according to Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Snowe, a centrist Republican who could be considered a swing vote on the stimulus by Democrats, says she was approached by the Democratic leadership and asked to work directly with them on a compromise that would trim some tax cuts from the $920 billion Senate package.

Snowe spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this morning, according to her office.

“I was approached this morning and asked to work directly with leadership to amend the tax section of the stimulus bill in order to develop compromise language that could pass the Senate,” Snowe said in a statement released by her office this afternoon.