Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Though most of the attention in the fiscal cliff negotiations has been on taxes and revenue increases, lawmakers are also trying to avert $1.6 million in spending cuts that kick in after the Jan. 1 deadline. They are cuts that could have a significant effect on companies that make their lifeblood from government contracting.
House Speaker John Boehner has rejected a demand by President Barack Obama for powers to raise the debt limit, as part of talks on the "fiscal cliff". Mr Boehner said the president was "unserious" about reaching a balanced deal with concessions to both parties. Year-end tax rises and deep spending cuts could harm the fragile US economy if allowed to take effect. But lawmakers are becoming concerned that, with just 18 days to go, time to pass a deal in Congress is running out. In his weekly news conference, the top Republican in Congress said Washington's "spending problem" was the biggest roadblock to reaching a deal, and urged the White House to identify more savings.
'Controlling the purse'
"The president wants to pretend spending isn't the problem. That's why we don't have an agreement," Mr Boehner said. He added: "If the president will step up and show us he's willing to make the spending cuts that are needed, I think we can do some real good in the days ahead." He also said that the current White House plan would increase taxes without offering enough in terms of spending cuts to please Republicans. Mr Boehner threw out any suggestion that Congress would give up its right to control how much money the government can borrow - a request the White House has included in its plan. "Congress is never going to give up our ability to control the purse," the Ohio congressman said. "And the fact is that the debt limit ought to be used to bring fiscal sanity to Washington, DC."
The Treasury is expected to hit its current borrowing limit early next year, and would need congressional approval to increase the debt limit further. In 2011 congressional gridlock over the issue brought the US to the brink of a debt default, and contributed to a downgrade in its credit rating. Meanwhile on Thursday, Mr Obama sounded a more positive note, telling reporters a deal was "still a work in progress", as he walked from the White House to a staff holiday party close by. Later on Thursday Mr Obama was due to record interviews with regional news stations to promote his plan. Mr Obama and Mr Boehner have been negotiating directly on the matter. They held private, face-to-face talks at the White House on Sunday and spoke by phone on Tuesday.
'Ripple effects'
The president campaigned on raising taxes and getting rid of the Bush-era tax cuts, and hes going to get his wish, DeMint said on "CBS This Morning." I believe were going to be raising taxes not just on the top earners; everyone is going to be paying more taxes in the country, and I believe thats what the president wants. For DeMint, who shocked Washington last week with the announcement that he would resign his Senate seat in January to become president of the Heritage Foundation, the remarks are the latest thumb in the eye of the House Republican leadership. The Tea Party favorite has repeatedly expressed a lack of confidence in how Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is handling talks with the White House.
After announcing his resignation last Thursday, DeMint went on the Rush Limbaugh radio show and joked about deposing Boehner from his position as Speaker. Shortly after, he went on CNN to deliver another parting shot. Im not with Boehner, DeMint said on CNNs "The Situation Room." This government doesnt need any more money; this country needs less government. Boehner, though, has publicly said that while Republicans are open to $800 billion in new tax revenues, they will not accept Obama's push to raise tax rates on the top 2 percent of income earners.
DeMint suggested that Obama's negotiating stance was designed to take the nation over the cliff. The presidents plan is clearly not a proposal, not a solution; it will fund the government for a few days. We all realize its a political trophy, its not a solution, he continued. But the presidents been campaigning against these tax rates for a long time and hell probably eventually get his tax increases one way or another.
Although Obama campaigned on his tax proposals, DeMint argued Thursday that the parties should have struck a deal before the election so the American people could have voted on something concrete. We shouldve done it before the election, he said. We should not have gone home until the problem was solved and people could see how we handled it here so they would know how to vote at the election. "Ive been a businessman for most of my life and I know the damage that this uncertainty has already done, and you combine that with the implementation of ObamaCare and those taxes, I think youre already going to see some downturn in our economy because of whats going on here," DeMint continued. "We cant fix it Christmas Eve and expect it all to bounce back in January.
Source
