Obama calls on Congress to craft at least a minimal ‘fiscal cliff’ deal
Obama calls on Congress to craft at least a minimal ‘fiscal cliff’ deal
The Republican controlled house of representatives created this cliff, and has spent months burning every possible bridge they could use to cross it. If the house can’t create a budget that will pass without a veto, then they are failing in their prime duty, and probably need to be recalled through the whatever the various mechanisms are in individual states.
If the Representatives can’t muster enough votes to do that, then the house needs to reasonably extend the time frame — since this is just an arbitrary timeline that they created they can also change that timeline before the ten days are up. So there are two easy ways to avert the cliff, that mentioned by the president, and that of extending the deadline. If the house fails, I say recall them.
President Obama sharply curtailed his ambitions for legislation to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” on Friday, urging Congress to adopt a stopgap measure to keep benefits flowing to unemployed workers and prevent taxes from rising on income under $250,000 a year.
The plan should also “lay the groundwork” for action next year to spur economic growth and rein in the national debt, Obama said at a White House news conference. But with taxes set to rise for virtually every American in just 10 days, Obama conceded that time was too short to enact far-reaching legislation now.
“I am still ready and willing to get a comprehensive package done. . . . I remain committed to working towards that goal, whether it happens all at once or whether it happens in several different steps,” Obama said.
“But in 10 days, we face a deadline,” he said. Protecting unemployed workers and 98 percent of taxpayers is “an achievable goal that can get done in 10 days.”
With that, Obama and his family boarded a flight to Hawaii for Christmas, leaving congressional leaders to untangle a long-standing political knot: how to push a tax hike of any kind through the fractious Republican House.