First it was “short-term economic stimulus.” Then it was a “jobs bill.” Now it’s “tax relief,” and that’s why it’s okay to shaft minimum-wage families who would actually spend the money they get (thus creating economic stimulus”) because it’s not an economic stimulus bill and it never was in the first place.

Democrats and some moderate Republicans, however, argued that it was essentially unfair to give the child tax credit to most middle-income families but not to those lower on the scale. (The wealthiest taxpayers do not benefit from the child credit, which phases out at higher incomes.) Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, said the lack of a benefit to minimum-wage families was one of the reasons she voted against the bill.

“This ill-founded decision creates a two-tier system under the child tax credit, penalizing low-income working families who need the help most,” Ms. Snowe said. “Not only is this unfair, but it further undermines the stimulus portion of the child credit,” since it is low-income people who would be most likely to spend the refund.

Mr. Daschle said there was one obvious solution: new legislation that would give the full credit to low-income working families. In order not to raise the deficit any further, he proposed that the $3.5 billion cost be offset by reducing the tax breaks for the wealthy by the same amount.

I read a piece about a group of wealthy people who were working against this tax cut. A rich woman was talking to her congressman and she said (paraphrase), “You and I both know this isn’t about economic stimulus, because if there’s something I wanted to buy, I would have already bought it.”