Over the cliff … Senate kicks the can down the road

Overnight the Senate approved legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff crisis … at least that’s what you’ll hear from the mainstream media as the country looks to the House to push the legislation through this afternoon. The thing is, the entire fiscal cliff senario set up by Congress was designed to force them to deal with the issue … yet last night the Senate congratulated themselves for postponing the entire issue again.

The agreement increases taxes for individuals making more than $400,000 and families making more than $450,000 and supposedly cuts spending – get this – a minuscule $28 billion. There is no details about the spending cuts, but don’t they normally throw these numbers out as to reference a full decade? In other words, $28 billion in cuts over 10 years … $2.8 billion per year.

From Fox News, who has different spending cut numbers.

Under the proposal, current tax rates would be extended for everyone except families making above $450,000 — up from President Obama’s earlier threshold of $250,000. The bill would also extend long-term jobless benefits for a year and address other expiring provisions like the estate tax.

The late-night deal ironed out the last major sticking point between the two sides — what to do about the $110 billion in automatic spending cuts set to kick in starting in January.

Officials said the two sides agreed to postpone the cuts by two months, in exchange for a 50-50 mix of revenue increases and spending cuts. Of those cuts, half would come from defense and half would come from other budgets.

Fox News has also learned the deal contains a repeal of an ObamaCare program called the CLASS Act. The provision, which would set up a government-run long-term care program, was never actually implemented amid concerns that it couldn’t generate enough revenue to sustain itself.

Big Government has the following…

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) couldn’t vote yes to what essentially avoids the issue.

“I just couldn’t vote for it,” Rubio told reporters. “I ran, just two years ago, on the idea that I wanted to be part of solving the long-term problems this country faces. Time and again, we’re given choices here that don’t involve that.”

“The real fiscal cliff is still there,” he said. “We’ll be back here again. In March, we’ll have a showdown like this all over again.”

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

5 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on January 1, 2013 at 9:05 am

    Stealers Wheel said it best – “Clowns to the left, jokers to the right.”? A pox upon them all.



  2. stinkfoot on January 1, 2013 at 10:01 am

    The psychology behind what the executive demagogue delivered earlier in the afternoon gave no option for Republicans to preserve any dignity regardless of whether or not they supported whatever was to come out.? The very seeds of future vitriol were planted when he delivered the volley.? That is the “leadership” we collectively voted for and it was on display for his first four years.? Shame on us for that.? because voters lacked the courage to make the right choice last November, we will deserve what we get.



  3. SeeingRed on January 1, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    Rubio/Paul both voted?nyet.? I like it – at least there are two guys with more than a pair between them.? Not too many in DC that break that threshold (unless you pair up Pelosi & DiFi).



  4. stinkfoot on January 1, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    The House is almost certainly not going to pass the bill.? The entire charade was to set up the Republican House to take the blame for what Obama has ZERO intention of averting.



    • stinkfoot on January 1, 2013 at 11:12 pm

      Nostradamus reincarnate I am not… the drunken sailors have their spending bill.? Funny how some of the news are trying to tell us how Obama compromised in the negotiations… and some people are actually believing it!



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