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Sources on the House Ways and Means Committee are telling us that Rep. Bill Thomas, the committee's chairman, will be announcing his retirement from the House shortly.

Thomas has been a solid chairman, pushing hard for tax cuts, an advocate for spending cuts, and didn't always play ball with the White House the way it would have liked. Those are all good things.

If Thomas does go through with it -- and it's a big if given how he can get emotional about things -- it's a somewhat surprising move. Our sources tell us that he had just completed a reorganization of his senior staff on the committee, and had assured some of them, who had been mulling exits of their own, that he was staying put.