What's Next After The Fiscal Cliff?

Tweet of the Day: January 2, 2013

The Fiscal Cliff & the Upcoming Debt Ceiling Battle

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We Have A Deal...Sort Of

From L.A. Times:

The White House said a deal has been reached to avert the “fiscal cliff” and dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to Capitol Hill late Monday, an indication lawmakers were heading toward a possible late night vote on the deal that could stop the tax hikes and spending cuts in the “fiscal cliff.”

The major outstanding issue – how to handle the automatic spending cuts that are slated to begin on Wednesday – was resolved as the White House and Republicans agreed to a two-month delay, as well as a mix of additional revenues and spending cuts intended to offset the lost savings.

The agreement would give Congress time to try to find a permanent deficit-reduction solution...

If the Senate votes late Monday, the House could return to session. Or Boehner could push the vote to New Year’s Day which, in a political twist that had been discussed for months, is advantageous for the GOP. It would allow the tax rates to raise for a few hours as lawmaker return to vote not on tax hikes, but rather tax breaks, for most Americans...

It's Official, We're Going Over The Cliff!!!

From CNN:

An agreement to avert the fiscal cliff of automatic tax increases and spending cuts appeared "within sight," President Barack Obama said Monday, but lawmakers said nothing will pass Congress before a midnight deadline.

Senators were "very, very close" to a deal, having worked out an agreement on taxes, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday afternoon. But the House of Representatives won't vote on any plans to avert the fiscal cliff on Monday, leaders have told members.

At the White House, Obama said the deal now on the table would prevent a tax increase for the overwhelming majority of Americans, extend the child tax and tuition credits for families as well as those for clean-energy companies, and extend unemployment benefits for 2 million people, Obama said.

But Obama did not sound hopeful a deal was imminent, saying he expected to remain at the White House for New Year's Eve as a midnight deadline neared.

"They are close, but they're not there yet," Obama said. "And one thing we can count on with respect to this Congress is that if there is even one second left before you have to do what you're supposed to do, they will use that last second."

Fiscal Cliff, Because GOP Fears Tea Party Primaries

From Huffington Post:

...Most normal Americans will have very little patience with Republicans as they begin to realize that GOP Members of Congress are willing to risk throwing the country back into a recession because they are worried about being beaten in low turn out primaries by people who do a better job than they do appealing to the extreme right fringe of the American electorate - and to the far Right plutocrats that are all too willing to stoke right wing passion and anger. 

Nate Silver, of the New York Time's 538.com, argues in a recent column that one of the reasons for this phenomenon is the increasing polarization of the American electorate. That polarization translates in to fewer truly "swing" Congressional seats and an increasing number where Members are more concerned with primary challenges than they are with losing in a general election. He concludes that at this moment the number of solidly Republican seats is larger the number of solidly Democratic seats. 

This, he argues is partially a result of redistricting by Republican legislatures that packed Democrats into a limited number of districts in many states. But he also contends it results from increasing polarization of the electorate in general. And it is due to the fact that solidly Democratic urban areas have very high concentrations of Democrats, where Republican performing areas tend to have relatively lower concentrations of Republicans. These reasons help explain why, even though Democrats got more votes in House races this cycle than Republicans, Republicans still have more seats in the House...

Ann Coulter To GOP: Give In To Dems On Taxes