Speaker John Boehner has enough votes in the House to pass "Plan B," a plan President Obama and Nancy Pelosi once supported.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said unequivocally Thursday that Speaker John Boehner’s fiscal cliff fallback plan would pass the lower chamber later in the day — at the same time his party’s leadership was working privately to shore up support.
The so-called Plan B Boehner is pushing would extend tax rates for income below $1 million but force families making over that threshold to pay Clinton-era rates of nearly 40 percent. Late Wednesday night, Republican leaders incorporated a proposal to spare the Pentagon from looming spending cuts and shift the reductions to other agencies.
President Obama has already threatened to veto the bill, despite saying he wanted a balanced approach to solving the fiscal cliff crisis. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already shot down Boehner's plan as a "non-starter" but has refused to bring President Obama's $1.6 trillion tax hike plan to the floor for a vote. As Boehner said two weeks ago, talks seem to be at a stalemate.
There are no events on President Obama's public schedule Thursday -- and it's hard to say how much is going on behind the scenes on the "fiscal cliff."
As it stands, Obama and House Speaker John Boehner seem stalemated.
Between the weekend, Christmas and New Years, there are only five days left for a deal to be made.