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If the U.S. government ends up careening off the "fiscal cliff," Republicans in Congress stand to shoulder most of the blame, according to a new poll released Tuesday.
A majority of Americans said in a new, post-election poll that they do not expect President Barack Obama and members of Congress to reach an agreement to avoid the effects of the fiscal cliff, the combination of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes set to take effect at the beginning of the year.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., explains whether a compromise will be reached between Democrats and Republicans.
Fifty-three percent of Americans said Republicans in Congress would be more to blame in that instance, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in the days following the election. Twenty-nine percent said that Obama would be more to blame, while 10 percent said both the president and Republicans would share blame.
Those kinds of numbers help set the political landscape heading into the impending fight to resolve the long-running fiscal standoff, which features an emboldened Obama fresh off a re-election victory and a Republican Party looking to regain its footing in Washington after losing seats in the House and Senate in addition to Mitt Romney's White House loss.
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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill returned to work on Tuesday to begin sorting out these issues and beginning to work on some internal affairs, including choosing their own leadership teams for the next two years.
But just a few weeks separate the U.S. from the onset of the fiscal cliff, as the 2001 Bush tax cuts and the 2010 payroll tax cut are set to expire at the end of this calendar year. On top of that, the automatic spending cuts -- which fall heavily on the defense budget -- will also take place beginning in January unless Congress acts first.
Win Mcnamee / Getty Images
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks at a press conference as Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., and Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., listen on Capitol Hill Sept. 20, 2012 in Washington, DC.
Sixty-eight percent of Americans said in the Pew poll that they would expect the impact of the fiscal cliff to be major, and 70 percent said they expect the fallout from the fiscal cliff to be mostly negative.
The president hosted labor leaders at the White House on Tuesday morning in anticipation of the upcoming negotiations, and Obama will host business leaders on Wednesday. Leaders in Congress from both parties head to the White House for talks on Friday.
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Both Obama and Republicans in Congress have begun laying out parameters for those negotiations, and White House press secretary Jay Carney reiterated on Tuesday afternoon that the president would not sign any law extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Obama has instead called on Congress to extend all tax rates except for those in the top income bracket.
(Republicans have called for broader talks that link an overhaul in the tax code to entitlement program reforms.)
The Pew poll was conducted Nov. 8-11 and has a 3.7 percent margin of error.
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BigDog please don't post when you are drunk !
Since Republicans are wrong about everything, it seems to reason that they are wrong about this too.
The people who graduated high school and weren't on welfare or food stamps overwhelmingly agreed that Obama has been a failure this election. Unfortunately Obama's base had a huge turnout.
Sure KEVIN, Guess that's why highly educated people tend to be Liberals as do Blue States have better education systems. Been to Mississippi lately????????????? LOL
college educated women overwhelmingly voted for Obama.
What a joke. The crappy parts of Mississippi are overwhelmingly blue, just like any state. I live in CT. My town went with Romney by double digits. Why does Obama win CT easily? Because of the @!$%#hole cities where all the people on welfare live and where most of the crime occurs. Obama wins 90% of those areas.
Liberal women tend to vote based on abortion, not the real issues.
He won CT because that state always goes to the Democrats. And where exactly are these Connecticut ghettos that are singlehandedly winning the state for Obama? It's one of the most affluent states in the union. Because it's also one of the highest educated states in the nation. That's why, not minority votes. Distorting facts again.
The blue part of California is the coast, everywhere but San Diego and Orange County. Guess what? it's some of the most desirable real estate in the country.
Have you been to Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven, Willimantic, or Bridgeport? They are mostly dumps. The most educated and nicest parts of CT, Greenwich, New Cannon, Darien, etc, went Romney. Sorry, but these are the facts.
@geo
Last one was voted down in the Senate 99-0
NavyVet, Nice to see you paying attention, Obama meets with his UNION Rabble for support again. Foreget meeting with businessmen.
He's meeting with business people late this week you ignorant slob.
A day after meeting with the Unions.......
I say pass Obama's tax the rich plan. It will pay the first 8 days of 2013. That is his only play so let him have it. Then what will be his excuse for the economy going in the tank?
@Doug
At least you've got the balls to suggest compromise...oh but wait!
What are you gonna do when the economy is not as bad as you'd like it to be in 2 years??? Cry all the way from the voting booth home?
How hypocritical...GET A LIFE!
I am willing to compromise---let's just go over the fiscal cliff now and get it over with. Both sides will get things they want, and both sides will get something they hate. Sure sounds like compromise to me!
Had 4 years to address this and NOW it has become a focal point? Talk about misplaced priorities. I guess people think that it is only one tax hike on $250K and above , when in fact there are about 31 new taxes in Obamacare. So when the other 47% want to start paying their fare share and talk about taxing another group, think about the other taxes that were imposed in other bills. The Dems have tried to tax every possible way but in NO way have they been able to stop their spending spree. They are like everyone who over extended themselves by playing dumb and buying homes they could not afford hoping that something else will save them.....guess what folks China is not going to save US, they own US, thanks to the Dems
da supreme ort thredw dis veri issue out!! the obamacareless-ness is the fisckl abyss! cliff?? kliff its a sidewlk nub,this is the highest tax increase on the american people in history. da demo-kraps 4 brains gave away da piggy bank bak in 2009!? yet? da people voted da fool bAk in?? realize da da peoples wer/ anmd r not amerikan citizens!! dos dat voted r feklons,illegals,spanglers,wurman, and other useless peoples.u ned to lrn to spek lik da prez now it is kald OBMINIX. DER NO SUCH THING AS A JOB IN AMERIKA. da gop lost the election! dats it?
Obaama/Biden "Who needs businessmen" We have a TEE TIME TO WORRY ABOUT
Greg, get educated.
THese rich bastards should pack up and get out of the USA, They can move to Singapore and pay 0% capital gains tax rates, Invest in the US Market and live like kings . WHY stay here. Take their business to China while they are at it. We can all exist on food stamps and welfare.
Apparently that's the plan. Push jobs and businesses out of the Country by taxing them at a higher rate than most any other country.
Greg - they do have that option don't they. But some how i think they like it better here. So therefore, too bad!
The fallacy of your argument is laughable...
It's amazing how much you people deify the free market & job creators!
How hypocritical...GET A LIFE!
We already have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Why wouldn't corporations move jobs overseas?
@Doug
Even Ben Stein agrees...tax rates have very little to do directly with job grow!
Historically, if we go higher, we all are better off for it!
Don't believe the hype they're feeding you...it does not add up!
I read articles a couple of years ago that said that was quietly happening even then. When the people with the money sit on it, or worse yet, leave with it, what does that leave? The rest of us taxed unto death! So many are counting on me working that I will probably never retire. They will probably raise the retirement age to where I may not live to retire. As a matter of fact, that would be best for the current trend. That way I never get a penny of what I put in. I just can't understand how people can be so blind.
It's almost like why work - get a snap card, rent assistance, and HEAT
@Wyo2
You're a sad individual...
Rasputin, IN Russia I presume? You must be an Obammite. Vulture Communist./ at large
What BS, But then, the likely respondents to the poll are Obama supporters who don't care that he's running this country deeper and deeper into debt and will be happy to make us a third world country like his homeland, Kenya.
It seems to me that the layoffs have already begun-the "excuse" of Obamacare is the reason. Many businesses are not hiring or are cutting full time workers to part time workers for the same reason. How many states have now begun petitions to suceed from the Union, I believe I saw the number 31. Does this really sound like a mandade of Obama's policies?
Small businesses are slimming down to part time workers, or getting assembly products from China, IT's not an excuse. If you are not going to be able to pay yourself then why have a business?
Go ahead an secede. It sure was a good idea in 1860.
To those with hands out without shame, I understand why you're scared sh$tless if severe cuts are made. For the rest of us, bring on the cliff!
Yea, how about we cut off all federal aid to Red States. Then you'll see some real whining and howling from the Right.
Nah, Ozzie. We will just charge an arm and a leg for gasoline, natural gas, and heating oil.Then what will you do? Remember, you can't use coal---way too expensive what with all the new regs!
evryone is a idiot!
i am so tired of the misinformed who, at every opportunity, spread the lie that the President was being a bully when he said, "I won the election," way back when.
the entire statement was directed only at one person at the open meeting during which it was made --- JOHN MCCAIN. as in, "I won the election, John."
in other words, as McCain was contributing absolutely nothing of substance to that particular round-table discussion --- only platitudes and senseless partisan rhetoric --- he needed to be reminded that the election was over. it was therefore time to get out of campaign mode and talk like a grown-up in order for anyone to be able to respect anything he might have had to say at that meeting. needless to say, the President's advice fell on deaf ears.
McCain continues in campaign mode, spewing the same old stream of platitudes and partisan rhetoric, to this day, at every opportunity, during every interview. not once, since 2008, does he notice that no one is listening. sad, sad, sad.
hey, John? the election is over. AGAIN! Obama won. AGAIN!
Yes, the GOP drove us off the first cliff. They will do it again!
Sorry, the policies of Clinton to raise taxes during the internet boom , only to drive us to recession when the internet bubble busted, drove us to a recession that Bush inherited, then 9/11 sent us to War to drain our surplus, and then Obama's Clinton policies are driving us deeper into the hole. One thing missing from the Clinton era, we have no internet type boom on the horizon. Dems can't invest correctly, Solyndra, A123, GM, Cash for Klunkers, all programs that burned taxpayer's dollars that we will never see again. At least those big bad banks paid back their TARP with Billions in profits for Americans.......but all the consumer legislations that Obama passed only drove the consumer prices up.
I have never so surely felt that we were headed in the wrong direction as I feel now. We have reached critical mass on ignorance about how an economy works and what are the actual responsibilities of government. The front wheels of the bus I was told to sit in the back of are already off the cliff.
Yea, yea, yea, the end of the world is at hand. The time to be scared was when Dubya had the brilliant idea of starting 2 wars, both unfunded, an unfunded drug plan and coupled this with irresponsible tax cuts, especially for the rich. Were you napping back then?
50% are going to blame the Republican's and 48% the Democrat's same as the election turnout. The country is still split except for media outlets like this one who go out of their way to bend the truth.
If you distrust MSNBC so much, then why are you on here???
Someone has to keep them in line.
the commentators on this blog remind me of when I was a 10 year old at school. We had an outside lavatory and the boys would try to see who could piss up the wall the highest. That's about the standard of this discourse. Meanwhile, China sits and watches and laughs it arse off, why worry when the US will defeat itself. Back to your caves, its getting dark and the wolves are waiting!!!
They will also be parking there arse's of our coast with there Russian made Aircraft Carrier & J-31 Stealth fighter jets !
Had 4 years to address this but Obama had his priorities screwed up. Said the Super Gang of 6 would address this, and we saw what that got us. No way this administration knows how to get things done the right way. Typical Dems to spend what they don't have hoping for someone else to bail them out, just like those folks who bought homes they knew they could not afford hoping someone else will bail them out. 47%'s who want to tax everyone when they themselves do not pay their fair share. 31 New taxes in Obamacare, seems to get lost each time OBama wants to tax more on the 53%'s . This whole administration is a Harvard study on how not to manage a budget. Spend Spend Spend , folks China owns US. Thanks to the Dems.
Call your Senator & Congressman or women demade a deal be made with the President for the sake of all american's! The telephone number is: 202-224-3121 and ask for the senator of your state.
Tell them you want the obstructionist to STOP! And A deal be made immediately with the President!
Call your Congressman or women: 202-225-3121. Tell them you want a deal make with the president and the obstructionist to stop!
These telephone numbers are available on a site called senate.gov
Tell me, who is the most powerful man in the world ...the leader of the free world? If anyone is an obstructionist, it is him. It is called leadership. Clinton had it but this guy couldn't lead a little red wagon.
See this is what I mean what would you do if Republicans won the white house and senate? go on a killing spree? you are just as much to blame as the republicans for gridlock for not going after the president, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Diane Fienstiene, Nancy Palosi and other Dems for gridlock it is all of our faults we should get on all of them!
Sad that you will only see this as an Obama attack instead of what it is a statement that one man is nothing but a cult of personality and that others are just as much to blame as he is and so are we!
If government careens off fiscal cliff, GOP to shoulder blame.
YOU BETCHA!
Might just be the thing we need I can't say that I disagree although I would prefer not.
I just don't get how it is one sides fault and not both!
On a liberal Bias web site as MSN I would expect nothing less than this BS diatribe about how it is the republicans fault and they might be right because the did not do anything to help Romney and despite the lack of help from the party he still almost one( no it was not a landslide look at the popular vote not the electoral and yes I know the only one that really count is electoral).
My point is fault is on all of us so stop blaming just the politicians they are doing what we the people let them. what I can't stand though is the view that no one else has the capacity to think so we must think for them, or the Obama is Jesus attitude.
I also am not a fan of the snide and vicious attacks from either side not one of you would have the balls to act like this if the other person was in front of you! I on the other hand will say it like it is if a repub sucks G.G Regan I will say it if a dem is inept Carter, Obama I will say that to should they deserve credit for something good I have no problem with Kudos's.What I am trying to say Joking is OK but let's stop the vitriol there is no reason to be uncivil because it is mostly all opinions and we all are incorrect!
Do it right or let it go over the cliff. Everyone is going to have to contribute to get us out of the mess government has put us in.
Common sense can get you in trouble here