Deal Reached, But Country Will Still Technically Go Over The Fiscal Cliff

Over the fiscal cliff we go.

According to multiple sources, the White House and Senate leaders have reached a compromise on the "fiscal cliff". The deal is going to be voted on by the Senate later tonight, and will likely be taken up by the House early Tuesday morning.

Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Mitch McConnell managed to hammer out a deal that includes the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for individuals making over $400,000 and jointly filing couples making over $450,000 per year. The deal would also delay, for two months, the automatic $110 billion in spending cuts that were due to take effect at the start of 2013.

The fact that the House will likely vote on the deal Tuesday morning means that the country will technically go off the "fiscal cliff". However, the markets will be closed for New Year's Day, so the impact of falling off the cliff should be minor, provided that the deal passes the House and Senate by Thursday morning.

The WSJ has an article that explains some of the other components of the proposed McConnell/Biden deal.

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It should be interesting to see how the votes in the Senate and House end up going. Nobody is particularly happy with the deal - many are angered by the fact that there is no entitlement program reform contained in the proposed deal.

The Senate will be voting on the deal shortly.

Filed under: General Knowledge