User:Geraldshields11/sandbox/FiscalCliff

In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal described the fiscal cliff as "an entirely made-in-Washington fiasco that is the result of bad policy choices."


 * December 29, 2012: Reid and McConnell proposed various plans to avert the fiscal cliff, but confidential sources say both Senators "were still far apart from a deal."   Various elected US officials said they are concerned how the fiscal cliff negotiations will impact their reelection campaigns and the public image of the US Congress.


 * December 28, 2012: According to confidential sources,        the 112th Congress may not pass legislation to avert the fiscal cliff until January because Congress will not reconvene until December 30, 2012 and then meet on December 31, 2012. The 113th Congress is scheduled to convene January 3, 2013 at 12 p.m.


 * Four bills are being discussed.
 * H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, would extend the expiring 2001 and 2003 Bush-era tax cuts for one year.
 * H.R. 6684, the Spending Reduction Act of 2012, would prevent the scheduled sequestration cuts.
 * Senate-passed Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S. 3412), which was voted on in the Senate in July 25, 2012, would extend for one year the Bush-era tax cuts on the first $ 250,000 of income reported on joint returns and would patch the alternative minimum tax for 2012, but not 2013.
 * H.R. 15, the House-passed Middle Class Tax Cut Act, mirrors the Senate-passed bill with substantial similarities.


 * December 17, 2012: According to media reports, various proposals were exchanges between President Obama and House Speaker Boehner to deal with the fiscal cliff, such as changing the federal government's standard measurement of inflation to a "chained" consumer price index,  allowing marginal tax rates to increase,   a one-year or two-year increase in the debt ceiling,   and reduced spending, by various methods, on Medicare and Medicaid.

December 13, 2012: Both parties have publicly stated the negotiations are at a stand still.

Several commentators have reported that a deal is not expected until after December 25, 2012 but not before December 30, 2012.

However, one commentator described the parties as "playing familiar roles in a largely choreographed drama."

Department of Defense

On December 5, 2012, the Department of Defense announced it was planning for automatic spending cuts, which include $500 billion and an additional $487 billion due to the 2011the Budget Control Act, due to the "fiscal cliff".

According the newspaper Politico, Department of Defense declined to explain to House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending, what its plans were regarding the fiscal cliff planning.

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The IRS has programmed its computer systems based on a reset or "patch" of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). According to Steven Miller, "the IRS would, at a minimum, need to instruct more than 60 million taxpayers that they may not file their tax returns or receive a refund until the IRS completes the necessary systems changes", which will be about March 2013. Without the "patch" of the AMT, an estmated 28 million families will have to pay AMT.

On December 5, 2012, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered to vote on President Obama’s proposal, as stated by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, as an amendment to H.R. 6156, the Russian trade bill, in the Senate. However, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev.), prevented the vote. Reid's reported reasons was that the Russian trade bill "is to protect American jobs" and “there is no Geithner proposal." McConnell said he would introduce the bill as "a stand-alone vote."  On December 5, 2012, Geithner said, during an interview on CNBC, that the Obama Administration is "absolutely" willing to go over the fiscal cliff.

On November 16, 2012, the US leaders announced that President Obama (D) met with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "to discuss" the plan "to work on" a plan "over the weekend" "to create a plan" that would be ready to present the week of November 26, 2012 concerning the fiscal cliff.

November 6 2012

As of November 6, 2012, Obama does not like-acroos-the-board spending cuts and wants to replace the cuts. Senior White House officials recommend a veto of any bill "that averts defense cuts while leaving intact non-defense cuts or not include an increase in tax rates for top earners."

Obama wants to continue to extend the George W. Bush tax cuts for most Americans."

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is Obama's lead negotiator about the fiscal cliff and the increase in the 2013 debt limit.

As of November 30, 2012, Obama is supporting an undeclared "amount of spending cuts, "$ 1.6 trillion in higher taxes" over ten years, and cuts of "$ 400 billion from Medicare and other benefit programs over a decade."  Also, Obama wants to included "an extension of the 2 percentage point payroll tax cut" and spend "at least $ 50 billion" in 2013 "to boost the economy," which "would add to the budget deficit."

On November 29, 2012, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner presented to congressional leaders a plan to correct the fiscal cliff.