Politico Breaking News: House to allow vote on Senate passed fiscal cliff bill

[flpoljunkie]

Source: Politico

POLITICO Breaking News

01/01/2013 08:01 PM EST (expires: 01/01/2013 09:01 PM EST)

The House plans to vote tonight on the Senate-passed bill to avert the fiscal cliff. Passage in the House, which is expected, would clear the bill for law since President Barack Obama has said he will sign the legislation.

The decision to move to an up-or-down vote comes after House Republicans internally rejected a plan to amend the bill with a package of spending cuts. That move would've likely killed the bill, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans.

Read more: http://politico.com

[TomCADem]

1. WaPo - "House could vote Tuesday on Senate cliff deal"

What happened to the "developing consensus" to amend the bill and send it back to the Senate to try harder?

House Republicans reversed course Tuesday evening and charted a course toward likely passage of the bipartisan agreement struck in the Senate to avoid the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff,’’setting up a late-night vote to complete a dramatic day in which the critical legislation appeared to be endangered for several hours.

In a second meeting with GOP members Tuesday, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.) outlined the options for handling the Senate plan while explaining the high “risk” involved with approving a different bill that might die in the other chamber, according to lawmakers exiting the evening session. Such an outcome could make the House GOP the public face of a failed effort to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts and possibly cause a public outcry as taxes on every American worker would jump.

* * *
But the House’s initial negative reaction threatened to plunge Washington back into the high-stakes, last-minute drama that has characterized both the fiscal cliff negotiations and a series of other recent confrontations between the two parties over spending and taxes, including last year’s fight over raising the federal borrowing limit.

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) said a “consensus” was developing that the GOP should amend the Senate’s plan to attach additional spending cuts. “I would be shocked if the bill did not go back to the Senate,” he said.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Perhaps cooler heads prevailed as votes were perhaps not there for an amended bill

which would go nowhere.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/house_republicans_proceed_along_two_tracks_on_cliff_plan-220459-1.html?pos=hftxt

[question everything]

2. Which two Democrats voted NO in the Senate? (nt)

[flpoljunkie]

5. Three: Carper, Bennet and Harkin

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00251

[blaze]

11. Bennet!!!

[4dsc]

17. Good for all three of these men.

This deal is crap.

[Cha]

20. Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Sherrod Brown did not think

it was "crap". Neither did VP Biden.

[geek tragedy]

22. Bennet and Carper wanted SS and Medicare cuts. nt

[Orangepeel]

13. Bennet: doesn't reduce the debt. Harkin: neglects the middle class. Carper: not a grand bargain

The article is behind a pay wall, but here are the three paragraphs about the Democrats.

The Eight Senators Who Voted ‘No,’ And Why

Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.): “For four years in my townhall meetings across the state Coloradans have told me they want a plan that materially reduces the deficit. This proposal does not meet that standard and does not put in place a real process to reduce the debt down the road. While I do support many of the items in this proposal – for example, extending unemployment insurance, the wind production tax credit and tax cuts for most Americans – I believe they should have come in the context of a comprehensive deficit reduction package. Without a serious mechanism to reduce the debt, I cannot support this bill.”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa): “I am all for compromise, but not one that sets a new tax threshold for the wealthiest while neglecting the middle class.” (via Twitter)

Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.): “Unfortunately, the deal the Senate passed this morning is not the grand bargain that I, and many of us, had hoped for, and that’s why I ultimately voted against it. While I commend the work of Vice President Biden and others in finding a way for us to avoid some of the bad elements of the fiscal cliff, there was a better way to solve this problem and we should’ve seized the opportunity to do so. … When push came to shove, we walked away from entitlement and meaningful tax reform, at least for now. Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Obama, is fond of saying, ‘Never waste a good crisis.’ I’m afraid that we’ve just wasted a doozie at a time when our President’s bargaining power was at its zenith.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/01/01/the-eight-senators-who-voted-no-and-why/

[question everything]

16. Thanks. You'd think that Harkin, at least

has been around for a long time to realize that the name of the game is to get when you can when you can.

[Cha]

21. thanks Orangepeel! I've been wondering about Bennet and Carper..

already knowing Harkin's view.

Bennet must know this is as good as they're going to get with the opposition party that doesn't support the Middle Class Working People or the Poor People. Or even care to have any responsibility of how to run a country.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown thought it was the way to go for our Country and they have a good Record For The People.

[Orangepeel]

25. Bennet and Carper seemed to have wanted something worse.

[Cha]

26. Oh, well, that makes more sense. thanks

[demwing]

27. A summary of the three reasons

Bennet: We didn't get everything I wanted, so I voted No.

Harkin: People making between $250k-$450k got a break I didn't want them to get, so I voted No.

Carper: We didn't use this crisis to "reform" entitlements, so I voted No.

[bemildred]

28. It's not often I disagree with Harkin, but here I do.

It's not the people making UNDER $5 million a year we have to worry about, it's the ones that consider that chump change.

[denbot]

3. Umm.. I'm rooting for the fleabaggers carry the day.

Interesting times indeed.

[Poll_Blind]

6. It's like an upside-down bizarro world.

It really is.

PB

[Recursion]

7. And that ends Boehner's speakership

Feel free to bookmark this and call me out if I'm wrong; I don't think he can survive that.

[BlueStreak]

8. No. Quite the opposite

If there were votes to upend Boehner as speaker, then there would have been the same votes to upend Boehner on the "cliff" vote.

This shows for certain that Cantor cannot knock off Boehner. And it also shows Boehner very clearly that he can't trust Cantor for anything. This is a lasting wound.

Basically Cantor made his move today -- and failed.

Awkward.

[Recursion]

9. Oh, I see your point

I keep forgetting the Hastert rule works both ways. Well, we'll see.

[DCBob]

10. correct.

Boehner is safe.

[Recursion]

12. Yeah, I had that backwards. I've been off the Hill for a while.

He bought his speakership at the cost of his caucus. It's happened before, now that I think of it.

[BlueStreak]

14. When you go to kill the king, it is really important that

you actually kill the king.

Coming up "a little short" in the king assassination business usually has some unpleasant consequences.

We shall see.

[SunSeeker]

19. Yes, when you shoot at the king, don't miss.

[geek tragedy]

23. "Do not wound the Prince"--Machiavelli. nt

[Tx4obama]

15. LIVE STREAM LINK to The House debate and vote

Here: http://www.c-span.org/Events/House-to-Take-Up-Senate-Fiscal-Cliff-Bill-Tonight/10737436933-4/

There will be 'at least' one hour of debate before the vote.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. What's the Tea Party afraid of?

They're not going to allow some little tax increase on millionaires to
derail the budget, are they?

[Rhiannon12866]

24. Passed 257-167, per MSNBC!

BTW, they're saying that Boehner and Ryan voted for it; Eric Cantor voted against it.