President Obama complained in a Saturday radio and Internet address that crucial issues are resolved in Washington only at the last possible moment. It was late December when he spoke, three days before the deadline on the fiscal cliff. A deal to avert automatic tax increases had yet to be reached.
For fiscal hawks of all political stripes, the last two years have been awfully frustrating. Budget politics has been front and center almost constantly, yet we have made almost no progress toward reducing our deficits and debt.
It has been widely reported that the recently passed “fiscal cliff” deal entails a tax hike with no corresponding spending cuts. Other reports claim that the deal imposes a 41-to-1 ratio of tax hikes to spending cuts. But neither of these claims is correct.
President Barack Obama's staff used an autopen (a machine that mimics one's signature) to sign the "fiscal cliff" legislation that Congress passed on New Year's Day. There was no ceremony or photo-op for the autopen bill signing.
Among the many items bundled into the fiscal cliff fix there was another delay in implementing cuts to physician payments for Medicare services. It wasn't hard, though. Congress has had plenty of practice handling what is called the "doc fix," since it has been doing it almost routinely for the…
Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, explains why he voted in favor of the "fiscal cliff" deal last night in the House of Representatives:
After Congress agreed temporarily to avert the "fiscal cliff" last night, President Barack Obama hailed the deal in brief remarks delivered from the White House, and then headed to Air Force One to take a midnight flight to Hawaii. Obama had left his family days earlier to return to Washington to…
I suggested earlier today that enough House Republicans should support the Senate fiscal cliff bill to see that it passes. But here's an email from a reader whom I know and respect:
The fiscal cliff deal that the Senate passed early this morning is ridiculous in too many ways to count. There seem to be no figures from the Congressional Budget Office and only "very preliminary" figures from the Joint Tax Committee about the real spending and revenue implications. The two month…
The New York Times reports:
A senior Republican Senate aide passes along the tax terms of the deal being worked out by Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House to avert the "fiscal cliff." These terms are "locked," says the source, between Senate Republicans and the White House:
President Barack Obama hit Congress for not getting together to offer him a bigger deal during a speech today at the White House.
President Barack Obama tipped his hand today during a speech at the White House ... about how he plans to spend this New Year's Eve.
President Barack Obama began his afternoon remarks at the White House by saying, "I realize that the last thing you want to hear on New Year's Eve is another speech from me."
Harry Reid, on the Senate floor, said that he just spoke with President Barack Obama, but that they do not have a "counteroffer to make" to Republicans:
President Barack Obama issued an executive order to end the pay freeze on federal employees, in effect giving some federal workers a raise. One federal worker now to receive a pay increase is Vice President Joe Biden.
The Treasury Department is telling its staff not to worry about the "fiscal cliff," an internal memorandum sent to all employees reveals. The memo, which is signed by the deputy secretary of the treasury, Neal S. Wolin, states that "there is no reason why both sides should not be able to come…
Spending will increase 55 percent over the next decade, if President Barack Obama's budget plan goes into effect. The finding comes from the Republican-side of the Senate Budget Committee, which notes that Obama's "Proposal Would Spend $880 Billion Over Already Projected Increases."
As the tax debate continues, Republicans have a good opportunity to contrast their own support for small businesses with the Democrats' support for big business. As Kimberley Strassel writes in Friday's Wall Street Journal, big business is backing President Obama's refusal to stop the looming tax…
It is important to understand that the fiscal cliff is a charade. There are, to be sure, many conscientious debt reformers working to avert our proclaimed year-end epic fall—along with many cynics who are using the occasion to advance pet projects that will make the debt problem worse. But all…
The New York Times has finally discovered that fiscal cliffs aren’t the only thing that menace the modern nation-state. There’s a demographic cliff, too. A couple weeks ago, the Times’s Ross Douthat wrote a column about America’s bleak demographic future and suggested that the reason we aren’t…
Senate majority leader Harry Reid has adjourned the Senate to allow for a viewing of the Hollywood film Lincoln.
CNN reports, "US President Barack Obama offered to back away from his position that tax hikes should begin at $250,000 in annual income, delivering a fresh concession to congressional Republicans as talks to avert the fiscal cliff intensified in Washington."
A day after complaining that the "fiscal cliff" negotiations are "getting boring," Nancy Pelosi was spotted yesterday afternoon skipping town.
President Barack Obama won't touch the eligibility age for Medicare, Senator Dick Durbin told reporters. The AP reports:
"President Obama's 'Plan' Adds $8.6 Trillion to the Debt," the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee contends. Here's a chart put together by the Republicans on the committee to explain how Obama's plan adds to the debt:
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, blasted President Barack Obama for not leaving anything on the "fiscal cliff" negotiating table this morning in remarks on the Senate floor.
Senator Jeff Sessions continues to argue against the secrecy of the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations with an op-ed this morning in today's Wall Street Journal. Sessions argues that the secrecy is inherently anti-Democratic, and similar to the "Russian Duma, where officials meet behind closed…
Journalist Bob Woodward explained this morning on CBS that "there's a civil war in the Democratic party":
There is a lot of talk about whether Republicans should "give in" on raising taxes on the top 2 percent of income-earners. But the question isn't whether Republicans should "give in," but how they should react to a situation in which tax rates on that portion of Americans are going to rise whether…
Speaker John Boehner took to the House floor to address the "fiscal cliff" talks.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell blasted President Barack Obama from the Senate floor this morning for not offering any specifics on spending cuts.
Seventy-five percent of the new revenue pulled in by President Barack Obama's "fiscal cliff" plan would go toward new spending, not toward deficit reduction, the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee contends. Here's a chart, detailing how money from the new tax hikes would be distributed:
Peter Wehner, writing for Commentary:
Barack Obama's reelection campaign sent an email today asking supporters to call Congress to help gather support for the president's "fiscal cliff" proposal. Then, the campaign asks supporters to donate--even though the election ended over a month ago.
There is an increasing feeling that if President Obama’s insistence on my way or the highway produces “a plunge over the fiscal cliff,” catastrophes will follow, not least being a downgrading of our credit rating. Perhaps. But consider the possibility that a deadlock might be a non-event. What we…
Despite the outcome, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney did many things right during the course of this year’s campaign. Perhaps most notably, polls suggest that he was able to convince a plurality of Americans that the GOP’s plan for smaller government was better for promoting long-term…
The Wall Street Journal editors are unhappy about the present correlation of political forces. Who isn't? They're also, I gather, unhappy about "Beltway sages" who, facing the fact that the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year, have suggested Republicans accept a modest increase in tax…
New York Times reporter Helene Cooper explained on Meet the Press that the White House is now "cockier":
In remarks at a diner in Arlington, Virginia, Vice President Joe Biden said that the "upside" of going down the so-called fiscal cliff "is even bigger than the downside." Biden attributed these thoughts to "business leaders."
President Barack Obama today pledged only to sign a "fiscal cliff" deal that includes tax hikes on the 2 percent.
Politico reports:
Senate majority leader Harry Reid is denying the Senate the chance to vote on President Barack Obama's proposal. Reid calls Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's request to vote on the plan a "stunt."
President Barack Obama met with several MSNBC hosts this afternoon at the White House to discuss tax rates, according to Huffington Post reporter Jennifer Bendery. The reporter wondered if an "MSNBC love fest" was going on at the White House.
Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, is releasing a statement this evening that claims President Barack Obama's "secret" plan "increases spending by more than $1 trillion above the current baseline."
Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming believes President Barack Obama is "comfortable going off the [fiscal] cliff."
MSNBC host Chuck Todd reported that a "very smart White House aide" told him that "with this Republican, with the way politics of Washington are today, there'd still be slavery." Watch here:
Bill Kristol, with Mara Liasson, Ed Rollins, and Evan Bayh, yesterday on Fox News:
On ABC's This Week Sunday, host George Stephanopoulos asked Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about a report that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell "burst out laughing" when Geithner told McConnell the Obama adminstration's proposal to avert the fiscal cliff. Geithner avoided the question.
Speaking Friday afternoon with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole, a Republican who has emerged this week as an advocate of compromising on taxes, panned President Obama's proposal to avert the fiscal cliff.
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, revealed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD that he “burst into laughter” when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner outlined President Barack Obama's fiscal cliff plan yesterday. McConnell believes the plan is "completely unserious."
President Barack Obama’s plan to avert the so-called fiscal cliff hinges on increasing marginal tax rates on those earning over $250,000 a year—a group that includes those “millionaires and billionaires” but also includes several hundred thousand small-business owners who file their taxes as…
In remarks on the Senate floor today, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions blasted President Barack Obama and congressional leadership for holding "secret" fiscal cliff negotiations.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid suggested he supports raising taxes on small business owners to 39.6 percent while lowering the tax rate on corporations to 28 percent. In a press conference at the Capitol Thursday afternoon, Reid, joined by other members of the Senate Democratic leadership,…
Jay Carney, speaking about the so-called fiscal cliff negotations, said yesterday that "the future" is now, as Jeryl Bier first noticed:
Under current law, the U.S. economy will tumble over the so-called fiscal cliff at the start of the new year, when roughly $500 billion in across-the- board tax hikes and $100 billion in spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. Numerous economists predict the automatic tax increases, the result…
Bill Kristol, with Bob Woodward, Charles Lane, and Kimberley Strassel, yesterday on Fox News:
This afternoon, President Barack Obama consulted with MSNBC host Al Sharpton, who's also assicated with the National Action Network (NAN), about the fiscal talks between the White House and Congress. At the same meeting, Obama also consulted with other "leaders of civil rights and civic…
First off, it’s not a “fiscal cliff.” What we’re slated to hit as of New Year’s Day, as the Wall Street Journal notes, is a tax cliff. Our fiscal cliff, which drops off into a far deeper canyon, is what looms because of our $16,000,000,000,000 debt and the runaway entitlement spending that fuels it…
Hostess Brands has been driven into bankruptcy. The company, according to the Wall Street Journal, was done in by:
Let’s be clear what the bargaining over the fiscal cliff is all about. It is not about a long-term solution to our run away deficits and the iceberg looming in the distance: entitlement spending that will sink our fiscal ship. It is not about extracting more revenues from “the rich,” however…
The robocalls have stopped. Television ads have gone from attacks on candidates to the usual pitches for medications and exercises that will enable you to live forever. Political post-mortems are under way. And the 2016 wannabees are lining up financing and staffs for their runs at the Democratic…
John Boehner laid out the House Republican position in the upcoming legislative debate on the fiscal cliff in remarks Wednesday afternoon. "Mr. President, the Republican majority here in the House stands ready to work with you to do what's best for our country," Boehner said, calling the massive…
One thing is certain in these waning hours of the presidential and congressional election campaigns: it is Barack Obama and the current members of Congress who will have to make the initial decision on what to do about what we have come to call the fiscal cliff. By the time the new Congress and the…
Thirteen years ago? Or thirteen years from now?
New Jersey Republican governor Chris Christie blasted President Obama in a speech earlier today at a conservative conference in Chicago