2012 Ends With No Solution to the Fiscal Cliff
Obama addresses the nation following a meeting with Congressional leaders about the impending fiscal cliff (NBCNews)
Taxes are hanging up a deal.
Sources say there will be no vote on fiscal cliff matters in the House, meaning there will be no deal by the midnight deadline.
Republicans and Democrats have been stuck for weeks in a dispute over raising taxes on the wealthy, deficit reduction and possible cuts to Social Security and Medicare. House Republicans say they a vote will have to wait until tomorrow.
All Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at midnight. Meantime, the trigger on deep, across-the-board spending cuts was set in last year’s deal to raise the federal debt ceiling.
Earlier today it was thought the parties were close to an agreement.
In a statement on the floor of the Senate, McConnell said the key sticking point is tax relief.
He said he agreed with President Obama’s previous statement about acting now to prevent taxes from going up on the middle class. He did not say anything about preventing taxes from going up on wealthy Americans.
He stressed, quote, “we can do this… we must do this.”
The current deal being reported would end tax breaks for Americans earning more than 400-thousand dollars a year. McConnell stressed tax hikes must be stopped.
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