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‘Fiscal cliff’ negotiators still debating what to do with sequester
Daily Caller ^ | 12/31/2012 | Alexis Levinson

Posted on 12/31/2012 4:09:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind

WASHINGTON — With both sides having reached an agreement on tax rates in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, the hold-up is now what to do about the sequester, a senior Republican aide told The Daily Caller.

The White House, Senate Democrats and Republicans each have different proposals.

Though both President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday the two sides were “very, very close” to a deal, the sequester is still a point of contention.

“The Senate Democrats are telling the White House that they want to basically turn off the sequester for a year, and we’re saying that’s completely unacceptable,” the aide said. The White House plan, the aide said, would push off the sequester for three months.

But Republicans, the aide said, will not “agree to any delay in the sequester without corresponding spending cuts.”

Ideally, an agreement on that would be part of the deal negotiators reach tonight, but if not, McConnell urged the Senate in a floor speech to pass the deal to extend tax cuts, and at least get that out of the way.

The tax agreement would extend the current tax rates for individuals making less than $400,000 a year and joint-filers making less than $450,000 a year. It would extend some of the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends, and it would also keep the $5 million exemption for the estate tax, and add a 40 percent rate — preventing the rate from jumping to 55 percent. It also includes a “permanent patch” that will keep the Alternative Minimum Tax from affecting middle class taxpayers.

The aide acknowledged that these are “not the tax hikes we would have designed,” but noted that they amounted to “preserving as much of the Bush tax cuts as we possibly could.”

At the moment, things remain “up in the air,” the aide said. A caucus meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. never happened, in part because Obama was delivering a speech, and in part because of the remaining indecision.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: debt; fiscalcliff; spending
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1 posted on 12/31/2012 4:09:53 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Watch Rand Paul pile on. Quote: “What does the [Senate] Majority Leader say? ‘We won’t do anything about entitlements.” Oh great, this is going to be a real great solution. But we’re going to stick it to rich people! I hope nobody works for those rich people.”
2 posted on 12/31/2012 4:10:49 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Tea-party patience has run out.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) lashed out at the upper chamber today as a symbol of government’s runaway power in Americans’ lives.

“It’s an alternate universe. No, this — this place is a joke. I mean, bottom line, this is an absurd process,” Johnson said on CNBC. “It certainly proves the genius of our founding fathers that government should be limited. I mean, the fact that we have this place having such an enormous effect on our economy, on people’s livelihood, is wrong. It’s simply wrong.”

“So, I’m the manufacturer. I’m always looking for the cause of problems. The cause of the problem is that government is far too large. It’s far too intrusive into our lives. It exerts way too much control over our economy, but that’s where we’re at. And, you know, I have no — I don’t know too many people that really think government’s effective or efficient. Why would they think the governing body of that government would be particularly effective or efficient as well?” he continued. “This is a mere symptom of the overall problem in a system of government that has become too large and too intrusive in our lives.”


3 posted on 12/31/2012 4:11:39 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Stop spending so much on government.

That said, start spending more on things made in America.

How about that? Huh?

One but also the other. We need to make things.


4 posted on 12/31/2012 4:15:03 PM PST by Cringing Negativism Network
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To: SeekAndFind

Do they know that this year’s deficit is $1.5 trillion? Somebody should tell them.


5 posted on 12/31/2012 4:17:26 PM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas
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To: SeekAndFind

As far as I’m concerned all sequester-related cuts should go into effect effective tomorrow. Then let’s talk about the size and scope of additional cuts in the new year. We’ve taxed the rich, and now it’s time to cut spending.


6 posted on 12/31/2012 4:17:50 PM PST by NittanyLion
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To: SeekAndFind

As long as politicians have to buy re-election votes, there will never be any cuts of significance.


7 posted on 12/31/2012 4:24:17 PM PST by crosshairs (They are only assault weapons in the hands of tyrannical governments and criminals. Ban both.)
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To: SeekAndFind
"With both sides having reached an agreement on tax rates in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations..."(and clear as mud") - "...the hold-up is now what to do about the sequester...".....yeah and if my Aunt had cojones she'd be my uncle................
8 posted on 12/31/2012 4:24:51 PM PST by yoe
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To: SeekAndFind
Can someone tell me why "sequestration" could be so bad?

It takes place over nine years, forces $1.2 T deficit reduction automatically. It penalizes congressional and executive inaction which is highlighting the stupidity of all sides.

The DoD and discretionary domestic spending lose equally. Congress could easily re-fund critical DoD programs. Also any agreement on taxes can be made retroactive to Jan 1.

IMO the hype right now is designed to make the Republicans look weak, ineffective and cruel in the eyes of an uninformed or more properly, a mis-informed public. They have already demonstrated their stupidity last November, how can it get worse?

9 posted on 12/31/2012 4:25:13 PM PST by pfflier
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To: SeekAndFind
I've never taken a psychology class. Were I to do so, I like to think that “battered wife syndrome” could be demonstrated in a case study of the pubbies in Congress.

Our reps do not exist for the rubber stamp pleasure of Chairman Obama. Every Freeper should let them know, at least every week.

10 posted on 12/31/2012 4:29:06 PM PST by Jacquerie ("How few were left who had seen the republic!" - Tacitus, The Annals)
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To: pfflier
Can someone tell me why "sequestration" could be so bad?

That's the real punch line here: it's not that bad. It will be worst at first, and may cause a mild recession. After that, it's pretty positive. The "end of the world" BS is political posturing at its worst.

11 posted on 12/31/2012 4:29:37 PM PST by Mr. Know It All
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To: pfflier

BECAUSE they won’t do sequestration. Just the tax increases.


12 posted on 12/31/2012 4:31:31 PM PST by whitedog57
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To: SeekAndFind

13 posted on 12/31/2012 4:38:38 PM PST by real saxophonist
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To: whitedog57

From what I gather now sequestration isn’t even being addressed. The dims are pushing tax increases and boner is caving.


14 posted on 12/31/2012 4:44:01 PM PST by pfflier
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To: NittanyLion

“...all sequester-related cuts should go into effect effective tomorrow.”

Hear! Hear!

Let’s get this collapse underway, so we can get it behind us and move on toward real solutions.


15 posted on 12/31/2012 4:47:15 PM PST by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Still seeking change.)
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To: SeekAndFind

When political/regulator folks use the word, sequester, to refer to something about the scheduled, automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, they intend to make a deal on the tax hikes while plotting and scheming to increase spending.


16 posted on 12/31/2012 4:50:16 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: pfflier

Still has to get it by the House. Sounding more and more like the Tea Party Reps are in a catbird’s seat.


17 posted on 12/31/2012 5:03:49 PM PST by X-spurt (Republic of Texas, Come and Take It!)
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To: X-spurt
At some point if the Tea Party holds out, the one will probably issue another royal decree to invoke higher taxes.

BTW what's all the crap about extending unemployment for another year? Will the losers who had it 99 weeks get 52 more on us?

18 posted on 12/31/2012 5:12:14 PM PST by pfflier
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To: SeekAndFind

Ok, so WHY do we need a Congress? They have ben UNABLE to:
1) Pass a budget for 3 years
2) Comply with the voters and stop ZeroCare
3) Avoid the “fiscl cliff” (that they created)
4) Stop trying to spend America out of a deep recession
5) Be responsible with what used to be the most powerful nation on earth!

In addition, we know the following:
The Dems will do whatever zero wants, so they may as well stay home and phone in their votes; the Republicans are going to cave to whatever the Dems want, so that may as well stay home and phone in their votes; zero will circumvent the Congress when he DOESN’T get whatever he wants, so there’s no point in the pretense that ANY of them are actually doing any “work”!


19 posted on 12/31/2012 5:21:23 PM PST by DustyMoment (Congress - another name for anti-American criminals!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Food Stamp President wants to go over the cliff to collapse the economy and then take complete charge as the savior (aka dictator) of the country. He and his staff are complete psychos and anyone would be an idiot to take their word on any deal. Like the last proposed debt ceiling deal, he changed the terms after the deal was announced.


20 posted on 12/31/2012 6:04:09 PM PST by RetiredTexasVet (Save the nation, have your family's progressives spayed or neutered.)
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