Fiscal Cliff Deal is Reached

[Frodo]

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.

[DC Al Fine]

I suppose it's too much to hope that they might close loopholes for the rich rather than raise their taxes. With the tax code as porous as it is, this will only exacerbate the tax shelter problem.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Any word when the House will vote?

[Barnes]

Any word when the House will vote?

Tomorrow, apparently.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Any word when the House will vote?

Tomorrow, apparently.

We'll go off the cliff, but we'll get right back up, apparently?

[Holmes]

Never you worry about the cliff. It's not real. It's a metaphor.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Never you worry about the cliff. It's not real. It's a metaphor.

Whatever it is, it looks like it will be short lived.

[greenforest32]

Splendid news!

[© tweed]

another crisis invented and 'solved' by the permanent-state-of-emergency state.

[LastVoter]

another crisis invented and 'solved' by the permanent-state-of-emergency state.

The only thing left for Republicans to accomplish during this administration is to bait public sector unions into strikes they cannot win.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

another crisis invented and 'solved'made even worse by the permanent-state-of-emergency state.

Fixed

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Joe Biden could be the most influential and successful Vice-President in history. If he were 10 years younger, he could easily be our next nominee.

[Joe Biden 2020]

What are the chances the House Republicans will vote no?  I'm still nervous about the House GOP rejecting this plan...

[Smash255]

What are the chances the House Republicans will vote no?  I'm still nervous about the House GOP rejecting this plan...

Boehner has previously stated that he wouldn't hold a vote even if it had enough votes to pass unless the majority of House Republicans were on board.  However, I don't think he is that stupid.  Also with the Senate coting 89-8 and God Norquist giving his ok I even see enough teabag support to give Mr Tan his majority of the majority even if he would hold off for that.

[memphis]

So the Dems were in a position where what they want happens automatically but they compromise it down just for the heck of it. What a world!

[Franzl]

So the Dems were in a position where what they want happens automatically but they compromise it down just for the heck of it. What a world!

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Lief 🗽]

Does this make the tax cuts for <$400/450k permanent? Or will they have to be renewed again in a few years?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Two yrs too late. Should have continued payroll tax holiday. Also, unemployment for long termed needs to be reformed.

[King]

This is a great deal for the left.  It's going to cause more Teabagger anger while making Democrats look nicer than the GOP paints them. 

Yes, the fiscal cliff was a myth but enough believed it that PR would have doomed consumer demand. 

The goal is to keep momentum building for victory in 2014.  This generates enough conservative anger to get terrible candidates nominated in early 2014 but just enough economic growth to generate a pro-Dem electorate for late 2014.

That's why a fiscal cliff deal was always important.

[Antonio the Sixth]

This deal is sh*t. Most of the super-rich will see their ridiculously low rates become permanent, as well as a shamefully low estates tax. Meanwhile, everything the Democrats care about (unemployment insurance, medicare savings, etc) is only postponed for a couple months. Payroll tax will massively go up and disproportionally hurt the working class, while the rich will be almost unaffected. And with what's left to negotiate (spending cuts+debt ceiling), democrats will have a much weaker hand.

So all of Obama's bragging about not giving up to pressures and stand with the "middle class" ended up with a deal that every sane Republican would find perfect. Democrats still love getting screwed in every way possible.

Now the only hope is that there's enough teabaggers in the House to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory for the GOP...

[Marokai Backbeat]

Terrible.

[politicallefty]

The right-wing in the House almost certainly will not defeat this bill. I'd be rather surprised if they are stupid enough to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at this point. Once again, the White House has proven itself to be an abject failure in the art of negotiation. It'd be one thing if the President held on to his position that he will not negotiate with respect to the debt ceiling. I see no evidence to have me believe that position in light of the fact that he has caved on a central campaign promise in return for practically nothing, not to mention that the payroll tax issue appears to have been ceded entirely.

I'm not going to say this is a bad deal per se, but it's horrible in the context of the next crises the country is heading towards. I'm a lot more concerned about the pain that will be inflicted on everyone else when we reach the debt ceiling debate. There is nothing that the White House has done that gives me any confidence in getting a good deal. The President will always blink before Republicans do, and Republicans know it. Medicare, Social Security, and every Democratic accomplishment since the New Deal still remain completely unsafe at this point.

My confidence in the White House has been massively shaken at this point, but it's not gone entirely. However, it is entirely contingent on the next debacle the country will be forced to deal with. I don't know what the President thinks he is negotiating with, but it is not with a sane party or sane individuals. He seems to not realize that they are willing to blow up the country's economy in order to dismantle every Democratic achievement since the New Deal. I'd love to be convinced otherwise, but I'm just not seeing much hope in the inevitable larger deal.

[opebo]

Haha, 39.6%.

[Horus]

There were 8 nay votes who were they?

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

There were 8 nay votes who were they?

Tom Harkin, Iowa
Tom Carper, Delaware
Michael Bennet, Colorado
Marco Rubio, Florida
Chuck Grassley, Iowa
Mike Lee, Utah
Rand Paul, Kentucky
Richard Shelby, Alabama