Fiscal Cliff Deal is Reached

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Obama, Republicans reach deal on fiscal cliff; Senate vote expected tonight

By Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane and Jerry Markon, Updated: Monday, December 31, 9:01 PM

President Obama and Senate Republicans reached a sweeping deal late Monday that would let income taxes rise significantly for the first time in more than two decades, fulfilling Obama’s promise to raise taxes on the rich and averting the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff.”

Vice President Biden arrived at the Capitol just after 9 p.m. to explain the details of the pact he negotiated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). A Senate vote on the package could be held by 10:30 p.m., beating a midnight deadline, Democratic aides said. The Republican-controlled House will begin considering the bill on Tuesday, with a final vote expected in the next day or two.

The agreement came together after negotiators cleared two final hurdles involving the estate tax and automatic spending cuts set to hit the Pentagon and other federal agencies later this week. Republicans gave ground on the spending cuts, known as the sequester, by agreeing to a two-month delay paid for in part with fresh tax revenue, a condition they had resisted. White House officials yielded to GOP wishes on how to handle estate taxes, aides said.

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Apparently the overwhelming majority of the House GOP caucus is opposed to this deal.

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The House GOP appears to have had second thoughts, and will hold a straight up-down vote on the Fiscal Cliff deal tonight:

House could vote Tuesday on Senate cliff deal

By Paul Kane, Rosalind S. Helderman and and Jerry Markon,
Updated: Tuesday, January 1, 7:52 PM

House Republicans reversed course Tuesday evening and charted a course toward likely passage of the bipartisan agreement struck in the Senate to avoid the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff,’’setting up a late-night vote to complete a dramatic day in which the critical legislation appeared to be endangered for several hours.

In a second meeting with GOP members Tuesday, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.) outlined the options for handling the Senate plan while explaining the high “risk” involved with approving a different bill that might die in the other chamber, according to lawmakers exiting the evening session. Such an outcome could make the House GOP the public face of a failed effort to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts and possibly cause a public outcry as taxes on every American worker would jump.

As votes unfolded on unrelated legislation Tuesday night, GOP leaders were surveying lawmakers to see if they would rather go down the risky path of trying to amend the Senate bill -- which received a whopping bipartisan tally of 89 votes, with just three Democrats and five Republicans in opposition -- or bring that legislation to the floor for a an up-or-down vote.

As lawmakers left the meeting, a broad consensus seemed to be emerging that Boehner’s team should just bring up the Senate bill, negotiated by Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for a vote, rather than try to amend a large package of roughly $330 billion in spending cuts to accompany the bill back across the Capitol for an uncertain fate.

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THE BILL HAS PASSED!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, and it looks as if the final total is 257 in favor, and 167 against.