The Senate has finally agreed on a $827 billion stimulus package. The 736-page bill is expected to come to the floor for votes early this week. A coalition of Dems and centrist republicans (Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) , Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the like) brokered deals to cut about $100 billion from the bill. But now the challenge rests in tinkering the House and Senate versions to come up with a final bill.

What didn't make the cut in the Senate's final version? "Green" spending for hybrid cards, superfund cleanups and ecofriendly construction. Funding for education programs, such as Head Start, school nutrition programs and special education, were reportedly cut from the bill, as well as food stamps, violence against women and TSA funding.

In addition to steeper cuts for social programs, the Senate bill included additional tax cuts, including measures to exempt the middle class from the alternative minimum tax. But it also lowers the income cap for eligibility to qualify for Obama's proposed tax cuts.

Speaking of taxes... wait, what taxes? Obama's appointments suffered several more shake-ups this week all because of a few "mistakes."

First there was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's disclosure that he failed to pay more than $34,000 in federal taxes.

Then Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was forced to withdraw his name from consideration for Secretary of Health and Human Services Department (he had also been tapped to head a new department on tackling health care) when it surfaced that he failed to pay more than $140,000 in back taxes.

(Apparently those candy apple-red glasses didn't help him see the small print when he filed his tax returns.)

And, because bad news comes in threes for Obama just like everyone else, yet another tax snafu stalled the confirmation hearings of Labor Secretary Designee Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif). Solis' husband, an auto mechanic, apparently owed about $6,400 in tax liens that log back to 1993.

But fret not, heartfelt apologies are still a vital ingredient to Obama's "new kind of politics (and, according to our interview with the authors of "Millenial Makeover," a sure-fire sell for the mega-influential Millenials).
 
"I screwed up," he told reporters on numerous occasions this week (including a particularly groveling appearance on Anderson Cooper...pssssst, you're the freakin' president).

With all the hype surrounding the supposedly super-intense vetting process for those vying for jobs in the Obama White House, it's hard to imagine how such big slips were overlooked. This of course sent the opposition on a joke cracking field day.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivered a good zinger on the tax trip-ups this week at the  Washington Press Club Foundation's annual Congressional Dinner.

"I heard that TurboTax bought a table tonight to promote their new Obama Cabinet edition version 9.0. It asks if you've been nominated for a Secretary position, and if you click 'Yes,' the software just skips through the rest of the questions and calculates your refund, without any penalties."

Har har har... 

The RNC's newly elected chair is cleaning out the house, literally.

He's reportedly asked loads of staffers for their resignation, hoping, ostensibly, to bring change and a new kind of politics a lá Obama . Steele, the party's first black chairman, is a bonafide baller when it comes to GOP political strategy (he apparently coined the catchphrase "Drill, baby drill!" in his convention speech this fall). Who he brings on board is yet to be seen...

Our wildcard favorite for RNC press secretary? Steele's sister's ex, the always eccentric Mike Tyson. The wacky wrestler vowed to not "smash anybody" or "talk about smashing anybody's brains" when he campaigned for Steele in his 2006 Senate bid.... right.  In any case, GOPers are hoping Steele and his new political machine can breathe new life into a party badly battered by the election

Whether that new life will include the popular conservative cry for reviving all things Reagan is yet to be seen. Obama got some flack for making a lighthearted/insensitive (depending on which side of the aisle you stand) joke about former First Lady Nancy Reagan's seances, but we all know it was really GOP stalwarts and other Republican consultants who were crowding around the Ouija board last year, seeking advice from the charismatic "Conservative cowboy" who left office as one of the most popular presidents in American history.

In honor of Reagan's 98th birthday, which was Friday in case you missed the posthumous party, NPR's "Fresh Air" took a look at the different perspectives on Reagan's presidency. Next up: Honest Abe's 200th. Party on the left side of the aisle...