President Obama said Monday that Congress is making progress on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, at least temporarily.
An
agreement is "within sight -- but it's not done," Obama said, appearing
with supporters at the White House who would presumably see their taxes
rise if there is no deal by midnight.
Obama spoke as Congress
reconvened for a rare New Year's Eve session Monday, while leaders
huddled behind closed doors to work on details of an agreement.
They
included Vice President Biden and top Senate Republican leader Mitch
McConnell. They spoke at least twice by phone early Monday morning in an
effort to beat a midnight deadline for the start of a series of tax
hikes and spending cuts.
McConnell and Biden "will continue to work toward a solution," said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart.
Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is leading negotiations for his
party, said on the Senate floor that a deal remained out of reach
Monday morning.
"Discussions continue today on a plan to protect
middle-class families from a tax increase tomorrow," Reid said.
"Negotiations are continuing as I speak."
Consensus was building
around a plan to allow the George W. Bush era rates to expire for
individuals earning above $400,000 and joint filers above $450,000.
Negotiators were also focused on an increase in the estate tax rate, and
a one year extension of unemployment benefits.
Without action,
all of the Bush-era tax rates expire at midnight resulting in tax
increase on practically every American household. Democrats have offered
to raise the threshold for protecting the current rates from $250,000
and below to $450,000 and below to bring more Republicans on board for a
deal. But the offer is ruffling feathers among liberal Democrats who
want President Obama to stick to his campaign pledge to raise rates on
earners above $250,000.
"This
is one Democrat that doesn't agree with that at all," said Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa. "I think that's grossly unfair." Harkin said that most
Americans earn between $25,000-$60,000. "And they're the ones getting
hammered right now," he said.
Optimism has ebbed and flowed on
Capitol Hill as party leaders and White House officials continue to
wrestle over budget details. McConnell called on Biden on Sunday to step
into talks he has been absent from because McConnell and Reid hit an
impasse. McConnell and Biden have successfully negotiated legislation in
previous fiscal fights. They spoke at 12:45 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.
From Capitol Hill on Monday morning, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told MSNBC's Morning Joe
that most lawmakers, who are not among the small group of negotiators,
were sitting around the Capitol building listening to pundits on
television.
If Congress fails to strike a deal, President Obama
has asked Reid to bring to the floor a stripped-down plan that would
include a renewal of unemployment insurance and an extension of the
George W. Bush tax cuts for middle-class Americans who make less than
$250,000 a year.
"Republicans will have to decide if they're going
to block it, which will mean that middle-class taxes do go up,"
President Obama said on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.
In
one sign of movement Sunday, Republicans dropped a demand to slow the
growth of Social Security and other benefits by changing how those
payments are increased each year to allow for inflation.
Budget
conflicts have been a recurring theme in the 112th Congress, which ends
Thursday at noon when nearly 100 new House and Senate lawmakers will be
sworn in to office.
The clash between a Democratic president and a
divided Congress occurred during the near-government shutdown in spring
2011. It happened again that same year when the government nearly
defaulted during a dispute over the debt ceiling.
And it is likely
to happen again in 2013 when Congress must approve in mid-February an
increase in the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, the nation's borrowing
authority, and in late March when the current federal funding runs out
and another government shutdown threat looms if the partisan gridlock
continues.
USA Today