Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were close to a deal Monday to cancel historic tax hikes for most Americans. But they were still hung up on spending, with Democrats resisting a Republican proposal to delay automatic spending cuts for just three months.
As President Obama prepared to deliver remarks about the “fiscal cliff” at 1:30 p.m. at the White House, negotiators for the administration and McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to have nailed down many of the most critical tax issues, including a plan to let taxes rise on income over $450,000 a year for couples and $400,000 a year for individuals, according to people in both parties familiar with the talks.
The “fiscal cliff” situation is still looking pretty grim, but Democrats and Republicans continue to insist that they’re making headway in their continued negotiations on Monday. While we’re certainly hopeful that the two sides can come together in agreement to prevent tax hikes for 90 percent of Americans, it’s hard to have much faith when they’ve got less than twelve hours to reach a compromise that has eluded them for months.
We guess now would be as good a time as any for everyone to start crossing their fingers…
It was the first time in my career, my life, I realized someone could go out — and I probably shouldn’t say this with the press here, but — no, but it’s more important. You’re more important. For the first time in my life I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide. Not because they were deranged, not because they were nuts; because they’d been to the top of the mountain and they just knew in their heart they’d never get there again, that it was never going to be that way ever again. That’s how an awful lot of you feel.Vice President Joe Biden • Addressing a group associated with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which supports friends and families of service members who are killed in action. Biden’s wife and daughter were killed in a car accident in 1972, and he realizes how important this story could be to others. He notes that Jill, his current wife, really helped him through his tough times. “This woman literally saved my life,” Biden said. Things are looking more positive for Biden and his family these days: Just yesterday, their 30-year-old daughter, Ashley, was married. source (via • follow)
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