WASHINGTON, DC-It is looking more likely that the taxcharacterization of carried interest will indeed be changed. At thevery least, the day of reckoning is moving closer in the House ofRepresentatives.

On Monday, it is likely that the House will bring the Extenderpackage to the Rules Committee. The Extender package is a series oftax proposals that are bundled together each year for extension.This year, the carried interest proposal was made part ofit--although the industry has been furiously lobbying to have itremoved. After the Rules Committee receives the package, it willissue the rule for carried interest--it will either be a closed oropen rule--and then send the rule and package to the House floor onTuesday or Wednesday.

If the rule is closed, then there is no possibility of a change.Even if it is an open rule, the amendments likely to be offered areprocedural. Industry associations such as the Real EstateRoundtable say that as of Friday the carried interest proposalremains in the package. There is no schedule as of yet for theSenate--or word on whether the lobbying campaign has had more of animpact in that chamber.