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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (213188)	12/31/2012 1:37:37 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 541429

Tom Harkin 2016!! Maybe Sanders/Harkin

To: bentway who wrote (213188)	12/31/2012 3:07:18 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541429

The deal that is being reported as of an hour or so ago may fall apart without Democratic support. Finally, a "fiscal cliff" breakthrough By Leigh Ann Caldwell, Steve Chaggaris / CBS News/ December 31, 2012, 2:15 PM Updated 2:15 p.m. ET cbsnews.com Most of the world is counting down to a midnight New Year's celebration while Congress continues to watch the clock and count down to another deadline, despite the efforts of lawmakers to avert the "fiscal cliff." President Obama took to the stage with middle-class taxpayers standing behind him this afternoon to announce that Congress is making "progress" and that "it appears an agreement...is in sight." Meanwhile, CBS News has learned that there has been agreement on two of the major hangups. Multiple congressional sources tell CBS News that the two sides have agreed on an income threshold for the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans: $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for families. For weeks, Democrats have pushed for letting the cuts expire for those making over $200,000 and families making over $250,000 while Republicans have wanted to renew the cuts for all Americans, including the wealthiest. Additionally, agreement has been reached on the estate tax, which was set to increase from 35 percent to 55 percent in 2013. Instead, the compromise sets the new rate at 40 percent with the first $5 million exempt from being taxed. Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have been the key negotiators over the past 24 hours and the movement on taxes represents a huge step forward in the talks. Other items that could be included in a deal include an extension of unemployment benefits and reimbursement rates for doctors who treat Medicare patients. As both of those items are costly, Republicans are worried that the new deal could raise the deficit instead of cutting it. What is unclear is if the automatic budget cuts, known as the sequester, will be addressed in any deal. The $110 billion of cuts to defense and non-defense government programs are set to go into place in the new year. The president said he had hoped any deal would be more comprehensive and address the sequester and the deficit in "a balanced way." Even though deficit reduction was the Republicans' top priority, the president used the possible exclusion of the sequester to take a swipe at Congress. "[W]ith this Congress that was obviously too much to hope for." He said. Some congressional Republicans and aides didn't take very well the president's condescending remarks. "So....I'm confused....does POTUS want a deal or not? Because all those jabs at Congress certainly sounded like a smack in the face to me," Erica Elliot, communications director for House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, wrote via Twitter. The agreement on taxes comes hours after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., updated the holiday-starved, grumpy and weary "cliff" watchers and announced the obvious: time is running out and that "there are a number of issues on which the two sides are still far apart." Reid said discussions continue but any sort of agreement will "need cooperation from both sides." Play Video White House "fiscal cliff" planning As negotiations continue, the tenor and focus of the talks have shifted from the top member in the House and the president to the Senate leaders. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who for weeks negotiated directly with President Obama, froze himself out of the arena just before Christmas with his ill-fated attempt at a "Plan B" that landed with a thud among a few dozen of his own members. Then, after Mr. Obama flew back from his Hawaiian vacation, presumably unhappy about leaving paradise for the cold and deserted nation's capital, and summoned congressional leaders to the White House and dumped the onus of reaching a deal on the laps of Reid and McConnell. Alas, Sunday, McConnell found himself throwing his hands up in exasperation after Reid slow-walked a promised counter-proposal and he picked up the phone to the White House to find, as he put it, "a dancing partner" in Vice President Joe Biden. "Fiscal cliff' deal rests with two old negotiating partners: Biden and McConnell Deal to avert milk price hike may not come up for vote As negotiations are taking place with McConnell and Biden, the House of Representatives is in "hang loose" mode - as Reid put it over the weekend. The conservative members of the House Republican caucus insist that tax cuts can not replace the $1.2 trillion of spending cuts set to go into effect in the new year. Instead, they say there must be actual decreases in spending or allow the planned cuts to defense and non-defense programs to be implemented. While time is running out, it is becoming less likely that Congress could pass anything before midnight tonight. While the legislative body can move quickly to pass legislation, it does take time to write and print the bill, vote on it and send it to the House. Reid has told senators not to make plans tomorrow or through January 3.