The Associated Press ^[1] is reporting that Democratic and Republican lawmakers have reached a tentative deal today on a stimulus package. First the good news: the giveaway does not include money for food stamps, unemployment insurance benefits ^[2] or infrastructure projects. Also, although it is not mentioned in the AP story, we hear the deal does include some pro-growth tax cuts including accelerated depreciation for businesses.

Now the bad: the give away does include $300 checks for everyone receiving a paycheck regardless of whether they pay income taxes or not. Also only individuals earning less than $75,000 and couples earning less than $150,000 are eligible.

Considering how eager Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was to sign off on any deal ^[3], deficit hawks in Congress did a good job of keeping the overall damage to a minimum so far.