"Jim, please ask Bill to pass the income exclusion benefits."

"Why don't you ask him yourself??! He's sitting right next to you!"

Yep, things in the Republican-controlled House are peachy if, by peachy, you mean infantile.

The relationship between two House committee chairmen has become so strained that they have stopped talking to each other and rely on an intermediary to negotiate over corporate tax-reform legislation.

Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Small Business Committee Chairman Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) communicate through Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), a senior member on the Ways and Means Committee, to convey their positions and learn about each other’s views on a set of tax breaks for American corporations that have been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization.