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Subscribe to RSSPresident Obama praised lawmakers and Vice President Joe Biden after the House of Representatives voted to pass a Senate measure to avert the most serious impacts of the so-called fiscal cliff.
Updated at 12:32 a.m. ET: An agreement to stave off the harshest and most immediate consequences of the fiscal cliff won approval in the House late Tuesday. President Barack Obama signed the law on Wednesday night, the battle over which foreshadowed more fights with Congress over spending.
Following a day of hectic wrangling on Capitol Hill — where the prospects for passing the bipartisan, Senate legislation regarding the fiscal cliff hung in the balance for much of New Year's Day — the House voted 257 to 167 to pass the belated compromise measure over the objections of many conservative Republicans.
The legislation takes steps toward resolving the combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts that took effect at midnight on Jan. 1. It preserves tax rates as they were at the end of 2012, except for those individuals earning more than $400,000 and households earning over $450,000. It also allows taxes on capital gains and dividends to go up, and extends benefits of the unemployed. Additionally, the Senate bill delays the onset of the "sequester" — the swift, automatic spending cuts — for two months.
Fiscal cliff compromise leaves few satisfied
"Thanks to the votes of Democrats and Republicans in Congress I will sign a law that raises the taxes on the wealthiest of Americans," Obama said in remarks at the White House Tuesday, "while preventing a middle-class tax hike."
The House vote laid bare some of the internal ideological divisions to plague the GOP over the past two years. More Republican congressmen (151) voted against the Senate bill than for it (85), meaning that Democrats' support was needed to advance the final deal. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took the rare step of casting a vote, and did so in favor of the legislation. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the former Republican vice presidential nominee, also supported the package. But Boehner's top two lieutenants, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., each opposed the deal.
The House voted Monday to approve the Senate's fiscal cliff bill by a vote of 257-167. Richard Lui, Luke Russert and Mike Viqueira report on MSNBC.
"Now the focus turns to spending," Boehner said in a statement following the House vote. "The American people re-elected a Republican majority in the House, and we will use it in 2013 to hold the president accountable for the ‘balanced’ approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."
While the last-minute action on Capitol Hill essentially mitigates much of the risk posed to the U.S. economic recovery by the fiscal cliff, it hardly brings resolution to the bitter and often intractable fight in Washington over taxes and spending. The first half of 2013 will feature battles in Congress over raising the debt limit, continuing basic government funding and the expiration of this two-month delay in the sequester.
Bipartisan outrage after House skips vote on $60 billion Sandy aid bill
Obama nodded to those looming fights in his remarks Tuesday evening, renewing his call for "balance" in any solution in the coming year to address deficits and debts. But the president also sternly warned Congress against using the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip, as Republicans had in summer of 2011.
"While I'll negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether to pay the bills they have racked up," Obama said.
PhotoBlog: Deal done, Obama heads back to Hawaii with a weary wink
The fiscal cliff itself was the product of discord in Congress resolving those very issues. And the difficulty in attaining even this less ambitious piece of legislation — versus the kind of "grand bargain" Obama had first sought in talks with Republicans — offered a cautionary tale for the 113th Congress, in which the House and the Senate remain controlled by the same parties as during the past two years.
Squabbling
And even for much of Tuesday, House approval of the fiscal legislation — which was negotiated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden — was far from certain. GOP leaders were forced to cajole conservatives who complained the fallback deal contained insufficient spending cuts. Only after it became clear that Republicans wouldn't have the votes to amend the Senate proposal — which the upper chamber said it wouldn't even consider — did House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, bring the bill to the floor.
The squabbling was familiar to any observers of Congress during the past two years. This divide almost resulted in a government shutdown and a default on the national debt in 2011. It again threatened Tuesday to allow the painful, across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts to play out just as the U.S. economic recovery showed signs of accelerating.
PhotoBlog: See images of Congress working overtime to avoid fiscal cliff
And this deal just approved by Congress in the waning hours of 2013's first day all but ensures that much of the coming year will be dominated by similar battles in Washington. Republicans are hopeful they might be able to extract more spending cuts and entitlement reforms with the government up against other deadlines, like the one needed this spring to authorize more government borrowing.
That could complicate Obama's already-ambitious second term agenda. The president said just this past Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he will seek comprehensive immigration reform legislation and new laws to address gun violence.
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Which means that Obummer intimidated enough republicans into letting him have his way and he can re-establish his spending spree. What a muffed-up government!
The Republican Party is over. Done, kaput.
And with it America. Done Kaput...
We are now officially a third world nation!
Thought you said that when they passed the ACA
Four years it took the democrats in congress to realize that Obama and Reid were the problem...four years!!! Biden gets the job done in a couple of days...where oh where can we hide Obama and Reid during the Debt Ceiling Debate...so much for a community organizer and on the job training...some people are just beyond educating...I can see why they needed affirmative action...guy makes an F just change it to an A and move him along...
Dee DUMDUM
Again,
McConnell pretended that he needed a new "dance partner" to make a deal. Operative word is pretended.
What just happened is that the moderate republicans just came out to play. Obama lost nothing! Teapublicans were put in a corner by their own party. Look at the senate vote pattern....
I grew up in Republican land in the 50's and 60's, this souless, ass for B's teapublican group will not stand the test of time. We need to good, conservative Republicans to come back, for the sake of business, the economy, for the evolving nature of out country.
More taxes,,,More spending,,,GREAT JOB !!!!!!!!
And down the road of insolvency, theft, and fraud we continue.
This compromise 'solution' does nothing but entrench our old over-spending habits.
What was accomplished by this?
Time to cut, cut, cut defense spending.
Agreed.
The "cliff" is still there and has grown even higher but has been pushed as usual into the future. At some point a crisis will arise which cannot be "voted" on and has to be dealt with. Now is not the time, but like the soviet union collapse IS coming to America. When I don't know but it is coming just like our own deaths is. Perhaps today, perhaps next year, perhaps not for decades but none the less as inevitable as death and for the same reasons. Decay and nature!
Damn ALL members of Congress for destroying our Country!
I can't believe it, they did it! They passed the bill. I still don't know if I want to stay in my party...I have had it with people like Cantor.
Reinstate Revenue Act of 1917- middle class tax went from 2% to 2%. Wealthiest went from 15% to 67%! Atleast some will now pay what was expected 97 years ago in 1916.
Since these new rates only apply to the top 0.7% of taxpayers, and most of them only get about 40% of their income from salaries/wages, those at the top will simply shift how they invest to minimize the tax bite. The federal government will see lower additional tax revenue than the anticipate, and they were not expecting much.
Those with the top incomes might see their average federal income tax rate rise from the current 23% to 26-27%.
Peter, not even Obama has thought of that, let alone libs on here.
I heard Jimmy Carter whooping it up all the way from Georgia...I'm not the dumbest democrat president any longer!!! Be still Obama I'm goin' fail off your head...
Not sure Obama is dumb. I think he just hates America and is in a position to do something about it!
President Carter is not dumb. He may not have been very good at being president but he is a very good person. He is the most christian man, based on his acts, of all the living presidents. He has done more good for this country after he left office than any president in the past 50 years. You can't say dumb and president in the same sentence without thinking about Mr. Bush and even President Bush had his good moments. I don't think it is possible to be elected president and be dumb. Case in point : Mr. Romney is not pesident.
lol this is too funny, reminds me of mitt KNOWING he was KING . @ 418 reinstate Glass-Stegal is actually what you mean .
And yes I do know Snoot gingrich presented clinton something he could NOT stop .
Not really, but rather of the story of the kings clothes... Obama policy has never had any clothes yet everyone swoons over how beautiful they are...
Mitt was not our man for sure. To win we needed a strong leader like Churchill ... (BTW O's FIRST order of business entering the White House was to send the Bust of Churchill back to England....
We are in deep doo my friend!
And why did it take this long for anyone to even consider doing something?! Probably to stir public interest in a government that few have genuine interest in. Third-world countries are much better off. If you never had it, you can't miss it.
The Federal Debt will be 20 - 22 TRILLION by the time Obama leaves office. Maybe more.
Exactly. Which is why we need to raise taxes a lot more than this half-assed bill does.
Raise tax percentages or actual tax revenue?
Raising tax percentages is easy
Raising tax revenue calls for economic growth...
Obama's current tax increases will decrease overall tax revenue while increasing tax rates. Confusing eh?
why does people on this blog want to give the gov the hard earned money they paid into social security. that is the main reaosn the GOP lost this fight and will continue to do so until they make cuts somewhere else.......stop taking social security idiots.....
A tax increase with the right spending cuts would put our country on the road to reducing the deficit, paying down the debt and balancing the budget aka economic recovery. What's not being said is that tax increases do not have to be permanent if a business plan that addresses these 3 factors adequately is implemented. The question then becomes who has to pay more and where do you cut spending. Do you ask the richest guy at the table to pay for dinner or the poorest? Do you cut medicare, medicaid and social security or reduce military spending, foreign aid and nation building expenses. This seem to be the great divide between Democrats and Republicans. The answer to me is clear. It's time we American's start putting our country first. We have no business trying to take care of the rest of the world until we take care of our own right here at home first.
Well said!!
Agreed on the rest of the world and Military, but that still leaves us going into hawk at astronomical rates. Raising tax rates will only reduce tax income since it will further reduce the money in the hands of individual people so bottom line all roads lead to bankruptcy in the mid range future for America.
Right now the FED is printing a TRILLION dollars a year and we have to PAY them interest on the "loan" of that imaginary money... Cool eh?
Every GOP House member who voted "no" on this bill voted to raise taxes on Americans and therefore violated the Grover Norquist Pledge. How are they going to get away with that?
Dave
Proud not to own a gun
They won't and we will make them pay in 2014!
Didn't you hear? Grover granted them absolution.
NO SPENDING CUTS....were still standing on the edge of the cliff. NEXT BATTLE...raising the debt ceiling.
Perhaps we should ASK the Chinese if we can raise our debt ceiling?
Fist of all may all republitards have a horrible year,,
As they will lose many many seats in both houses in 2014,2016.
Now for,the rest of us ,we will have a great year,because we will have four more years of Obama,and four more years of watching the tea bagger ass holes and god losers,self implode.
Haha hehe hoho
And four more years of unemployment, suffering and poverty... Great aspirations !!!!
Baggers heads exploding all over DC, Crapo back belly-up with Boehner, Boehner weeping and Crapo sling back a few and claiming he doesn't drink. cantor still playing with his draydel while gnashing his teeth to stumps, Ryan attempting to pump up with the Mrs, ran that Marathon in record time, McConnel back at the Elephant Farm in Ky, still trying to evict his in-bred relatives, Reid won again at the black tables, Nancy munching down on imported Washington State Oysters, Biden kissing his wife, the Dr., and all is well with the Country, tonight!
The President is joining the family, rest well Mr. President you deserve it.
Republicans are busy celebrating at bars in Washington DC tonight. Biden caved! Republicans got more than they ever dreamed of in the deal. 99.3% of taxpayers saw their 2001 Bush Tax cut rates made permanent, something Republicans have been fighting for over the last 11 years. The 0.7% of those taxpayers impacted is only a fraction of the top 1% and will more than make up for the slightly higher taxes with higher stock prices. Most important is that this much higher level protects small business owners.
Peter, really, celebrating, hahahahahah, sorry--that spin doesn't work, when tax enacted we were not in an economic free fall, middle class been carrying the water for the last 12 years--the middle class simply could not sustain a tax burden such as the bags would have inflicted. I do not think there is any celebrating on the Republican side.
Yup Americans WILL suffer now like never before. WE WIN!!!!!
Suck it, teaturds.
LOL, what are you going to do when your unemployment check dries up and there are no jobs? Suck it I guess :-)
No. Let's just kick that problem down the road too. While we are at it let's all buy a house we can't possibly afford and kick the payments on down the road too. While we're at it let's kick an over spending government that tells us they are gonna take care of the problem over a cliff. The democrats have controlled government with the house and senate and/or the presidency for nearly a hundred years. But they know best because its not their fault. The truth is Americans can blame themselves for not caring about this country since at least the sixties. There is one true God and one true Word of that God. Follow that truth as close as our foolishness can and just maybe we have a chance. Any other genius idea at this point is just silly posturing in my opinion. Yes its that bad!!
The future is bright,the tea baggers aren't in it,,lmao
Awesome idea!!! Let's raise taxes during a recession. We are surrounded by economic idiots.
the days of coddling the rich are dwindling quickly.... gone on too long.
Repugnicans almost let it happen, too.
If you sincerely believe that raising taxes on people who make more than $450,000 per year is going to hurt the economy, you need to take a course in economics. People who make that much aren't going to change their spending habits because they have to pay a bit more in taxes. And, yes, it is spending, not investment that drives the economy. Investment will follow spending.
How can you state that?
All people spend and invest differently some believe it or not need every penny even at 400,XXX plus
Hay many have to pay off those sudent loans.
Government sucks $$$$$$$$4
@Gbob
It amazes me that people actually think this helps. Don't they realize we ALL got our taxes raises 2% today? The government already will spend it as fast as they get OUR money.
Old Vet-thanks for your service--Other than that, the rich are gonna pass it all down to us--higher gas, higher food--everything. Investing is way too riskey @ higher deductions--more than%15
You NICE folks gave US a clown car of people to vote for . YOU have a very large hand in the END of Republicans .
Eric Can't-or, the prime Party of No exponent, actually said yes to something proposed by the other side? The GNOP will never be the same.
Cantor and Bachmann voted no. Boehner and Ryan voted yes.
As bad as this is,it may save most Americans for awhile,think about the liberal masses not getting their allowance money,and the havoc they would wreak when their hands came up empty.Thank God nothing was actually cut.Can you imagine the riots and pillaging if the trough was only half full?