Howard Gleckman sizes up the party politics:
Stalemate means the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone. For most households, that will feel like a tax increasean outcome favored by a handful of budget wonks but very few real people. Democrats believe this will give them the leverage they need to force the GOP to deal. Republicans, by contrast, feel they’d be able to blame the ruling Democrats for failing to tackle the pending tax hike.
My best guess is that, in the end, Congress will extend the Bush tax cuts for all but the highest earners. And it will probably do so for a year or two. But after watching Congress fail to address the expiring estate tax last year, no outcome would shock me.