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UPDATED 11: 40 AM ET: There is an emerging deal to avert the fiscal cliff, led by negotiations between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden, but the key sticking point remains the sequester and deficit reduction, aides say.
Biden and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell exchanged phone calls until about midnight last night and aides continued beyond that, aides tell NBC News. Democratic Leader Harry Reid left Capitol Hill in the evening Sunday and was not directly involved last night.
NBC's Chuck Todd weighs in on the chance of a fiscal cliff deal just hours before the deadline, saying it "really depends on the political motivations" of the people at the negotiation table.
Aides say the Vice President and McConnell spoke at 12:45 am and again at 6:30 am this morning. GOP sources say the inclusion of the vice president has made a favorable difference in the talks, given his understanding of legislation and his personal relationships.
Two senior aides to McConnell continued with White House representatives overnight and again today.
GOP aides say they expect their party to likely defer its biggest fight over deficit reduction when the debt-ceiling debate takes center stage in the new year. Republicans say given the time left, there is limited, if no chance, to secure specific detailed alternative spending cuts right now.
Republicans would like to see the "sequester" across the board cuts kept in place to drive down the deficit, but Democrats are resisting that and offer a two-year delay.
But Democrats caution that the "emerging deal" which "creates another cliff in three months probably would not have the votes to pass the two chambers." That is a reference to the looming fights over the debt ceiling and the overall government budget deadline in March.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., talks about the latest developments on the fiscal cliff, and why she thinks Congress hasn't come to a resolution.
Democrats also argue the new revenue generated by tax increases, especially if reduced from the Democrats' earlier targets, should be used to cover the costs of delaying the automatic spending cuts for two years and protecting the long-term jobless with extended benefits.
Cuts that would go into effect as a result of the sequester would be deep and across the board. The discretionary cuts were signed into law in an effort law to compel Washington to address the long-term deficit. So far, the parties have been unable to agree on replacement cuts that would be targeted and therefore less arbitrary.
The most recent Democratic offer on taxes, presented on Saturday night, is setting the new income threshold at $450,000, sources say. That represents an increase over the president's original $250,000 threshold for higher rates and Obama's later offer to Boehner of $400,000.
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., opposes any delay of the sequester, when steep, automatic spending cuts will slash budgets at the Pentagon and other government agencies. Flake says he'll take any fiscal cliff deal that prevents a tax hike for most Americans.
Senior Republicans say the GOP is looking for a figure at about $550,000, down from House Speaker John Boehner's $1 million and retaining current estate tax rates. That could mean, say various members, a split-the-difference deal at $500,000.
Significant progress has been made on the income tax threshold and estates taxes, but the figures will not be set in stone until all details are resolved, including unemployment benefits, preventing a scheduled cut to medical provider's Medicare payments (know as the Doc Fix), and a fix to remove millions of middle class taxpayers from the "alternative minimum tax."
The taxes being discussed, by the way, would be made permanent and not given a "sunset provision" in law, which is unusual. There would be no expiration date like the one that forced this debate.
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Just let it go. When it crashes we can place the blame squarely where it belongs on the GOP and then see them swept out during the mid term elections leaving a little time to try to right the ship. Protecting the ultra rich is making the party of No meaningless and before long Mr. Cantor and Mr. Boehner will preside over an empty room. Polls clearly show that the majority want a resolution and see some equality in taxation as a positive.
Jager, You fail to understand TWO things: 1) You are NOT asking for equality. You want one part of the nation (and a small part at that) to pay for the remainder of the people; and 2) They ALREADY pay a MUCH larger share of that cost. I am not part of the "ultra rich," but I still don't want to end up paying more for those that are unwilling to make a better life for themselves and those that are gaming the system. Yes, I understand that there are some out there that actually NEED benefits and use them appropriately, but unfortunately it is becoming a smaller and smaller section of the whole.
The Republicans have become the party of the rich. What about all the corporate welfare that no one is talking about. The Farm Bill which was extended gives billions to farmers; the oil subsidies gives billions to big oil. It goes on and on and on. If the GOP is truly the pure "capitalists" it says it it, then why do they continue to back these subsidies to some of the wealthiest industries in our nation. When anyone wants to help the citizens they are called socialists; when we give handouts to corporations it's called subsidies. Go figure.
I agree. But I also believe that not a cent of increased tax revenues should go to unemployment benefits, or infrastructure projects. We are 16 trillion dollars in debt. Since Obama took over that number has increased every year. I'm so tired of libs squawking about how Clinton took a deficit and turned it into a surplus. There is no way in hell Obama would (even if he could) do that. We need to focus on the debt and not on spending, spending, spending.
The rich tyrants of the GOP are the biggest crooks there are, they are puppets to richer mogels who pull their strings.
God forbid that they lose one penny of their illgotten gains to pay taxes, when they can dump them all on the middle class. They don't care if the elderly have food,home, or needs, heck no, they want our social security, and medicare. Politicians should lose their salarys, and medical care when they take office, and have to live on a stipend , then they would know how it feels, and maybe just maybe, they might improve on their performance in government. If we didn't have to pay their salaries, we would probably be able to cut our deficite. I am a senior, and I am not going to take losing my social security lying down. If the GOP does't watch out, 50,000,000 seniors may rise up and make their lives miserable. There has got to be a way for people to legally keep them from doing this. Some of us seniors struggle to keep bills paid, and food on the table, young people couldn't care less, but we do. We paid all our working lives into social security, THAT MONEY IS NOT THE GOVERNMENTS TO SPEND, IT IS OURS, and our food stamps keep food on the table. I realize some people take advantage of food stamps, but my few go for food, and nothing else. I HATE POLITICS, and the politicians that want to take that away. THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SERVANTS OF THE PEOPLE, so they should not take home a salary.
She Elf, So you think Bill Gates needs Social Security? He will get it when he retires.
Looking back over the "sequester" agreement, there was NEVER a meaningful action prescribed to avoid this "Cliff" --- which BTW is a media sham again to get us all wigged out - 1 more time.
The President wants the "Cliff" to occur. Senator Reid; ditto. (Those who may disagree, please check the history of how many meetings among the President and Congress leaders were held until last weekend. Nada!) Now we are back in the blame game and another "CRISIS" to panick us into maybe doing stupid actions.
Congress, go home. Mr. President, go to Camp David and meditate. No more expensive planes for you and family. WE CAN NOT AFFORD your luxuries. Free Rent is enough.
Wasn't deficit reduction Obama's talking point during both campaigns?
Only the delusional would believe libs want to do anything with increased revenue other than spend it.
yeah it is all those bast@#$ republicans.....how about this, look at the new spending your democrats in congress are suggesting and you will see it matches the tax increases to the dollar. Deficiet reduction? BS they are just looking for a way to cover their collective a$$ when the REAL taxes kick in for obamacare!
Rich, you really need to look at the proposal detail for 2013.
It will help a lot.
Now the truth comes out. The President and the Dems want to increase taxes to keep spending more, rather than to pay down the deficit.
This is truly a shock.
Letusreason, yeah that's what the Dems are wanting to do...
Sheesh...
Letusreason: That truth was already known by anyone with half a brain. It continually amazes me how bad liberals are at not only math, but history. Granted they consistently try to revise history to suit their agenda, so the fact that they confuse themselves into believing all the bull@!$%# the democrats spew is not surprising.
"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of
leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government cannot pay its own
bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from
foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.
...Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally.
Leadership means that 'the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting
the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and
Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.
Americans deserve better." SENATOR BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA, MARCH 2006
Well they certainly did not get better!!!
I hate how the media has bought into the spending is the problem meme. Republicans created the debt issue in order to strangle entitlements to death under the excuse that they are unaffordable. It is an ideological battle the Republicans are waging to please the plurocrats, who will be hurt in the long run if Republicans succeed in taking more money out of the hands of the poor who need to spend everything they have just to survive. Keynesian economics has always worked. Trickle down is the huge lie.
"silly" - the name explains it all.....
silly -
Why? Are you afraid you'll lose your freebies? You know, Obamaphone? Food stamps? Section 8 housing?
Oh those laughable libs. They scream and squawk that they want higher taxes on the rich, then when Republicans acquiesce, the libs say, we don't want any of the new revenue to go to reducing the debt - we want to spend it. Truly pathetic. I hope we do go over the cliff because with the libs in power, that's the only way we'll reduce our debt even one dollar.
We won't reduce it then, either, as the cuts are insufficient to make a real dent in the deficit spending. In order to cut the deficit spending, we need to cut entitlements like crazy.
OBAMA knows nothing about reduction,,unless its reducing the american way of life...
he is no president,,,,hes a tool...
help us all...its gonna get bummpy
Dear Texas. Please find a way to get Texas to leave the Union. I think the U.S.A. would be a better place if we didn't need to hear from people that can't even spell their own state name correctly. Oh, that's right, Bush, the Education President is from Texsas.
Reminds me of Dubyah.....I voted for Dubyah for the first term and 1 1/2 years into his Presidency, I realized I made a BIG mistake and we were without a leader/President.
john and dkl..
first of all,,i spelled it that way,,because most on here feel the need to correct others for thier short comings..lol
second of all...I LIVE IN OREGON....you just assume,,,thats what libs do....no go back you sucking on obama,,,,
kinda like now.....we have no leader....
just mogli the doushe bag
"first of all,,i spelled it that way,,because most on here feel the need to correct others for thier short comings..."
Well, it certainly is a target-rich environment thanks to the right wing posters.
glad i could help
People are funny!!
President Obama is an incredibly slow learner. He actually still believes the GOP wants to do a deal in the best interests of the country. Sad for him and this country.
stop the madness please sign go to () $100m suit will take away from all the children
when budgets are already under strain.
Wow, Congress just reauthorized the Farm Bill which will give farmers a Trillion dollars over the next ten years. It wasn't even in the news despite the budget crisis talks going on and on. The oil subsidies haven't been mentioned either. Numerous subsidies to corporations isn't even discussed. Could someone please explain to me why these aren't part of the conversation? Would someone please explain to me why the Republicans, which are supposedly the most "capitalistic" of the parties, are so supportive of these subsidies? Trillions of dollars of subsidies and not one mention of them in the last campaigns. What a bunch of hypocrites we have running this country. They make me sick.
you voted for the biggest moron....
bush was a way better president...
hell chavez is a better leader than obama
This whole thing is sooo very child like...at least from my point of view. The only 'real' grownup in the room , again, is POTUS. This Republicans created this fiscal mess fully knowing what was going to happen..... Create unbelievable deficits, let it all crash hoping to create mayhem and confusion within the electorate then defund whatever healthy, public programs 'we the people' pay for with OUR own tax dollars calling the programs 'welfare', 'entitlements' and the 'food stamps' We pay for this...we the people! When these programs are so weak then comes a corporate coup! They've been wanting to stop funding for anything that 'we the people' cherish and turn it all over to the private corporations to handle. HUGE mistake!
This whole mess was 'designed' 12 years ago by you know who. The fiscal problems now are a carry-over from the 'credit cards' days of yore.
Dems routinely outspend Republicans, Bush had a democrat senate and house that continually asked for more money to spend than even the president himself asked for. Liberal logic: Bush's Fault.
You know, I got lucky enough to make a nice piece of change while I was working. I still find it hard to believe that folks that make between $250,000 and $500,000 need protection from a 4% increase in their taxes. Boy, do those guys live on the edge or what!
Raise taxes to support the status quo of already failing economic policies? Get real. You libs have completely gone over the deep end. INSANE!
BobW... Already failing economic policies?
Please give us the list of the leading economic indicators that are "failing".
If you're going to post a lie at least avoid a softball that's so easy to debunk.
Look out your window stupid.
This is about the 18th "Key" point that the Republicans have to bow down to story in the last two days by NBC. Almost matches the number of blame attacks by the awful and self absorbed president. This almost matches the number of times the president has tried to shift focus onto gun control or how Libya was just a "problem", and how it all upsets "HIM" personally.. but obvously not the families. And this is all about half the number of botox injections Paylosi has had in the past two days, and the number of times Kerry has stood in front of a full lenght mirror pretending to be JFK, and the number of times Dirty Harry has flown back and forth in the last two days to see his cactus garden in NV or times he has spent unplugging the whitehouse toilet after wiping Obamas ass. Yep.
Unless some of the writers of this post are truely rich, why are some folks interested in 'protecting' the upper class? Why?
DKL, what is the "upper class"? Why should they "not" be protected as any other citizen? I don't like people who ride mountain bikes in the park.... lets toss them also. And..... Unless you are truly worthless in your own life... why hate success so very much? So hypocritical.
Some much for that.......I am very successful :-) How did you know I ride a mt bike??...I don't do it in a walking park though.
DKL: why do you hate them because they have more than you? Why is it their responsibility to pay your way? Perhaps buy less into the class warfare the party of "tolerance" is dealing, and realize that out of control spending is the issue here, not how much the 1% pay in taxes. Because honestly DKL? They pay the majority of the taxes already. If you don't tackle the issue at the root, government spending, you're not going to solve anything.
FTW
If tax cuts = jobs where are they? If the national debt is so critical wouldn't we want to raise more revenue? If we cut spending we affect the promises we made to each other for Medicare, Social Security and of course the Military. So what promises do you want to break, and why do we keep promising the wealthy more money, what have they done to reduce our national debt?
I dare say if we spent $20-30 Billion to clean up the water supply in the world we wouldn't have to spend $200 billion more of for defense because the countries we help bring water to would be our defense.
The destruction of wall street and the melt down of the economy was not caused by the rich? Interesting...
Remember "Pay-go" legislation signed by H.W Bush which required all laws that would increase the national debt needed to be paid for by tax increases or spending cuts? W. Bush rescinded this law and doubled our national debt by putting 2 wars on our China credit card! Note $7 trillion of our $16 trillion debt came from two presidents, Reagan, & W. Bush. $1.2 Trillion of Obama's $ 5 trillion debt increase comes from the Bush tax cut exemptions, the remaing $3.8 trillion comes from stimulus packages that helped reduce the unemployment rate.
As for the financial crises the rich did cause it, why do you think Wall Street was selling so many default swaps, and why did they come up with that get rich scheme in the first place!
It really is rather surprising to see how many truly believe this is a Red vs Blue, Me vs You, Us vs Them etc. etc. etc. "political game". Not the case at all. What this really is, is keep the American citizen off balance and at each others throats that way they cannot see what really goes on behind the curtain of leadership and you know what? Its working for THEM not US! Remember "We The People"...? Every and I mean EVERY Senator, Congressman, lobbyist needs to be replaced. Both sides of the aisle are corrupt to the core and self serving. "We The People"... are the very least of our governments concerns. Wall St. owns D.C. and our oligarchy form of government does not care about your average American anymore. No matter what is said or promised its like a club and you and I are not in it and we aren't invited. Guess you could say "We The People"... (due to our lack of involvement or independent research) got just the kind of government we deserved.
Interesting to note that the 'farm bill' was preserved so your dairy prices will not sky-rocket. Why would the Gops go along with the continuation of this bill? Is this not some form of a 'socialist program'? Oh, that right, most farmers are GOP voters, how silly of me.
What does DFL mean? The farm bill should go away, at least the support side. Not needed and a waste of money.
So the Gops DO support 'socialist programs'!! My mistake.
lefty.......When you are ready to 'draw' from 'Social' Security and Medicare (if you are not doing so now), 'live your beliefs', refuse these 'socialist' programs.
If your parents or grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. are receiving these 'entitlements', try working work on your 'crusade' for a better world and convience them to return that which they 'took'. Good luck!
NO new spending for the libs. Period. I don't care if we fall off ten fiscal cliffs, they must cut spending. If not, then p!ss on them, over the cliff we go. Obama can own his incompetency and the libs will have to somehow find jobs instead of standing around with their hands out.
Can we also get rid of spending money on corporate handouts?