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Subscribe to RSSKey staffers huddle behind closed doors against the backdrop of a snowy capital as they attempt to hammer a last-minute deal to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.
Updated 6:30 p.m. ET -- President Barack Obama tasked the United States Senate with trying to resolve the “fiscal cliff” in the waning hours before the New Year following a meeting between congressional leaders and the president.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will lead the last-minute effort to avert the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect on Jan. 1 unless Congress acts.
And Obama said he is “optimistic” they can reach an accord before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the point at which the government would hit the fiscal cliff.
Absent that, the president said he had asked Reid to instead advance a bare-boned proposal that would extend the 2001 Bush tax cuts for income under $250,000.
Related -- Cliff Notes: Five things to watch at today's White House meeting
“I still want to get this done,” Obama said after his discussions with congressional leaders. He said “the hour for immediate action is here. It is now."
The president will appear exclusively on Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," where he's expected to further outline steps toward reaching a final deal.
The White House talks -- at which Obama presented no new offer to Republicans in Congress -- yielded “no concrete proposal,” Reid told reporters at the Capitol following the meeting.
President Barack Obama meets with NBC's David Gregory on Meet the Press Sunday morning. Gregory explains that for the president, this has become a matter of principle.
But in the waning hours before the end-of-year deadline, senators are now scrambling to produce a bipartisan package, at the request of Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that can muster enough support in the House.
Reid, McConnell, Boehner, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., spent the meeting “discussing potential options and components for a plan that could pass both chambers of Congress,” according to a Boehner aide.
But the most significant development appeared to be the emerging consensus that any final agreement would have to emerge from the Senate. That deal would necessarily require a “bipartisan approach,” according to the office of McConnell, the Republican leader in the upper chamber.
Among the major sticking points, senior Democratic aides told NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell, involve the income threshold at which tax rates would be allowed to rise and the level at which estates are taxed.
Boehner’s failed effort last week to push through a fallback plan with only Republican votes laid bare the internal GOP divisions after conservatives balked at supporting a plan from the speaker to allow tax rates to rise on income over $1 million.
The unsuccessful effort suggested that Boehner would need to lean upon Pelosi for Democratic votes if a deal -- which has eluded Obama and Congress for the better part of the last two years -- is to pass.
A Senate-led agreement, though, faces no surefire guarantee of passage in the House.
“The speaker told the president that if the Senate amends the House-passed legislation and sends back a plan, the House will consider it -- either by accepting or amending,” Boehner’s aide emailed reporters.
One of the biggest sticking points in the fiscal cliff negotiations has been which income level ought to be required to pay additional taxes. On Friday, Democratic and Republican leaders met for an hour at the White House. NBC's Peter Alexander reports.
The protracted stalemate between Obama-led Democrats and congressional Republicans had prompted Friday's last-ditch meeting at the White House. It lasted just over an hour, and included Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Sources familiar with the meeting said that Obama made no new offer to Republicans, urging them to hold an up-or-down vote on a Democratic proposal to preserve existing tax rates for income under $250,000 and extend unemployment benefits (among other unresolved issues).
It’s that very proposal which Obama said he would ask Reid to advance should he and McConnell fail to strike a deal.
“I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities, as long as those leaders actually allow it to come to a vote,” he said.
Republicans had previously rejected such a proposal, but could feel pressure to relent to administration pressure in order to forestall across-the-board tax hikes in just a few days. The source familiar with the meeting told NBC's Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker that Obama asked Republicans what they would be willing to support, if not that proposal.
Amid negotiations toward a final deal, the House was set to return to Washington on Sunday at Boehner’s request, and remain at work through Jan. 2 -- the final day before the 112th Congress concludes and the next batch of lawmakers are sworn into office.
In the meanwhile, Obama voiced frustration toward the repeated pattern in Congress these past few years of lurching from crisis to crisis before reaching a last-minute deal to stave off catastrophe.
“The American people are watching what we do here. Obviously, their patience is already thin. This is deja vu all over again,” Obama said. “America wonders why, for some reason, in this town you can’t get stuff done in an organized timetable ... The American people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy.”
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And the prez rushes back-for what?? For show as usual. He's just waiting to take us to more decline. Hope we all go over the cliff. If we don't stop spending-wha'ts the point. STOP SPENDING!
The farsical cliff is a breath of fresh air.
What a tremendous waste of Taxpayer Dollars we throw at these in the tank Politicians. As long as they can keep their nice rides in their plush SUVs, and fully stocked Liquor Cabinets, that's all they care about.
They're almost as bad as Drug Kingpins.
Let's go off that so-called cliff.
Let's go back to the days of Bill Clinton!!!!
Bill Clinton and higher taxes is the way to go.
Obama and the Democrats spent over $6 Trillion Dollars in the past 4 years. It is estimated that Obama and the Democrats will over spend a Trillion Dollars in 2013 no matter what happens at their so-called cliff. Obama and the Democrats really want all the taxes they can get. If they don't tax us now they will tax us later. So give it to them now. Screw it, let's see if Obama and the Democrats are right. I would bet they will come back and ask for more taxes before the end of 2013. You poor fools that believe in Obama.
This is a complete and utter disgrace. We have no leadership at any level in any party. We simply have politicians, no leaders. AND, I hold the press responsible for this fiasco as well - its all about headlines and dramatic phrases that play to these miscreants in Washington
Sad to think these clowns determine our fate. Drinking their martini's, waiting for dinner to be served, not a care in the world. Yet they know what everyday people are going thru. Cut me a break!
Poppy sheet for braines
Don't you wish you could go to HI,,,
We won,you lost,now all your GOP tards get lost
Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!
Harley relax, you will still get your welfare check
Smokie
I'm with you
You talkin trash?
I don't care anymore what they do . America is now becoming a two class society...the rich and the poor...this will cause revolution...read your history books...generally the poor outnumber the rich. So Mr. Weeper keep your stance you and your party will be history soon enough. Am I the only one who has noticed this is the first time he has not cried..did not cry over the 20 kids in Connecticut either...he weeps for the rich.
Here's an idea. There will be no paychecks or perks for Congress until the deal is struck. The deal will include sharp reductions in benefits for Congress, including health care, retirement, and all those other things they've cut from American taxpayers. Their retirement benefit is far out of line with the rest of us citizens. Who do they think they are 'serving'; certainly not me!
When is Dancing with the Stars on?
Not yet but we'll find out tonight!
The GOP will lose many seats,,,soon
The Dems are at the seat of their pants.
I'm counting on it. I am voting for it. I want the dems to take control of the house and maintain control of the sentate and keep the repubs where they were in 2009. The only way Americans will wake up si to really have to live with liberal policy. Once Obama and the dems are done, Americans will refuse to vote for any dem for a generation.
After reading all this bs the fiscal cliff is looking pretty good. Ain't skeered!
60% of white people blame Obama for everything including snow in July. In return that percentage voted against him. This includes Democrats (the weak kneed p u s s i e s)
But the things that he needs to do require an act of Congress, which by the way has an approval rating below 14%.
Yet we complain about how broken Congress is, yet your guy in Congress is a great guy. You need to have the guts to vote your candidate out of office. But you didn’t. Now we have the same old bull-s h i t happening in congress.
Case and point. Issa isn't worth a d a m n. He only attacks the Obama administration and turns a blind eye to his Republican colleague's corruptions. He is a arsonist and a convicted car thief. But his approval rating is 75% in his district.
Hence the reason why Government will never work for "We The People".
Look in the mirror people. You are the problem.
Ehem-- white person here not blaming Obama. Just FYI.. I blame the ENTIRE government system for their childish and ludicrous behavior. AND this BS started wayyy before Obama was even on a ballot.
I did not vote for a single incumbent, so I'm not contributing to the problem. Almost all my candidates lost though, so that's where we are in America.
Predictions,
All tea bagger Taliban gone bye 2020
All GOP god for guns and rape ass holes gone,,,
Assult weapons and 30 round mags,,gone
Dems control both houses and the white house
Hillary 2016
I clicked the up arrow by mistake. That explains the one. If those are your expectations, then you're in for a disappointing life.
Are you a mental patient, or paid lefty blogger (same difference)? I'm sorry your mom didn't love you
enough (I understand why). Other than blogging, (in case you didn't know) you are irrelevant in society.
Have a great day, and don't forget to take your meds!
Hey Fiesty or is it Fisty. Do you have matchin luggage. You have way to much time on your hands. Get a life. No one cares about your opinion. Its kinda like an A S S H O L E, everybody has one, but some are bigger than others. And you have got a large one i'm assuming. Go save some other world. PLEASE!!!
Why did Obama WASTE our tax money on his 4 MILLION dollar vacation (that the tax payers are paying for) when he had to come back here anyway to deal with this? WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM? This whole mess has been known about for a while. He should have cancelled his plans, unless this wasn't important enough? Not all of us have a plane waiting at our disposal and get to use other peoples money to travel!
You know Ronald Reagan NEVER took a Christmas vacation so that his secret service would be able to spend Christmas and New Years with their families. I Don't EVER see that being afforded to them under this administration. Spend, Spend, Spend - Blame, Blame, Blame - vacation, vacation, vacation!
You forgot golf!
Face it, us niggardly fiscal conservatives are obstructionist racists because we don't believe it is right to STEAL from our children and grandchildren so that the GIVErnment can play Santa Claus with those who are unwilling to carry their own weight!
BOYCOTT all left-support businesses, products and services. Stop buying GM/Ford/Chrysler cars. Don't go to Springsteen or Streisand concerts. Do not see Clooney or Damon movies. Get your insurance from any company except Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. Tell Geoff Immelt to STICK IT and buy Sylvania or Phillips light bulbs instead of GE.
Show the liberal progressives what spending cuts are all about. They can whine to their messiah for handouts when they cant feed themselves or pay their mortgages.
YOU WANTED CLASS WAR??? YOU"VE GOT IT!
I'm already doing this, except for the Ford thing. Ford did not take a bail out and is surviving on it's own.
It seems to me we have a big room full of big children fighting over who gets to be top of the hill. It's a power struggle with no regard for the citizens of the US. Some of those guys *might* care, but most of them just care about their own bottom line--which is why they won't approve the highest earners paying taxes. Yes, they would actually have to pay taxes rather than use their loopholes to get out of it. Imagine that. But they would rather bicker and try to cater to less than 1% of the nation while the rest of the nation is paying for their childish antics. To other countries-- we look like a joke. No wonder China is the biggest purchaser of land right now. Might as well buy us up blind while our greedy government plays tug-of-war.
I'm all excited for the disappointment to reach the news!
Those of you angry at the president - maybe you'll vote smarter next time. Right Feisty? Elections have consequences. Half of us know what's coming, and have tried and failed to prevent it. IMO, Obama wants us to go over the cliff. He'll get his raised taxes on everyone, and blame the republicans at the same time. He won't strike a deal because he'd prefer not to
Geez, what a crock. You dem-lib clowns wouldn't know the truth if it jack-slapped you. No wonder you re-elected that idiot.
Enlighten us zippy! That's the problem....you nitwits always talk about "truth" but you are never able to make an argument FOR your "truth". You tried this strategy leading up to the election....how'd that work out for you?!
World economies fortunes will be gaining or LOSING! on today's our congress decides this knot of regional politics played into economy models.
This is a few poltitians playing the role of economist aficionados and a bad game.
These clowns are ridiculous, both parties. They have had PLENTY of time to work up some kind of plan. These people sit on their lazy asses and collect their pay check. They could careless about anything else. All these elected officials keep passing blame and point fingers. Waste of our tax dollars.
I'm so excited, can't wait for the disappointment!
No matter what happens, i just wish America and her people the best of luck. If America falls, in my eyes it will always be a wonderful if not a great country to live in. I don't have that privileged to live or work in America, i live in the UK (sadly lol) but i'm pretty sure every American will find a way through it if it goes from bad to worse. Many here say America has hit a dead end like Britain did a 100 years ago with the British Empire. All great nations rise to a certain point only to collapse. Its happened with Egypt, Rome, Britain and a few others. I just hope your leaders and mine will learn not to be greedy, to borrow or over spend because its our kids that will pay for the mistakes that where made by the people we elected to lead us.
Fingers crossed that a deal is made and that this deal works because if it doesn't, it will take a long time to fix this problem. I did hear a few days ago that America was already in the Dip or reccession already, but i'm not 100% sure about it though.
But until then, good luck to all of you, fingers crossed and god bless the United States of America
Happy New year to you all as well :)