With the end of the day coming on Capitol Hill, there is still no new plan of action for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff. Senate leaders worked off stage today, but there will be no new proposals or votes until Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid adjourned work until tomorrow in order to allow time for Democratic and Republican leaders to negotiate a deal to present to the House tomorrow. House members officially return to work tomorrow in the hopes that they will have a new plan to work on. Taxes are set to increase on Tuesday and the mix with a cut in spending creates what many of us now know as the fiscal cliff.
After their meeting yesterday with the President, Senate leaders from both parties agreed to set to work this weekend to get a real solution on the table to vote on before the new year. This is most likely the last chance for these leaders to get together before the fiscal cliff will be upon us.
Mitch McConnell said that he hopes senators will be able to come forward with a new option by Sunday. The problem so far has been whether the House will pass anything that the Senators put forward. At this point the House has rejected any solution that includes increasing tax rates.
The trouble the two branches have looking forward is finding a way to tackle the looming fiscal cliff that will be able to appease the Democrats in control of the Senate, but can also then pass the Republican controlled House. President Obama gave them this mission yesterday, and he said that he is “modestly optimistic” that something can be done to keep America from diving over the cliff.
