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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol building on July 11, 2012, in Washington.
By Karoun Demirjian (contact) 
Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 | 4:02 p.m.
WASHINGTON — For the last four weeks, coming up with a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff has been the purview of the No. 1 Democrat and Republican in town, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
But since they came up empty, it will be up to their No. 2 guys — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — to strike an accord in the barely four days that remain before the end-of-year deadline when rising tax rates and scheduled spending cuts are set to cause a $600 billion economic crunch.
“We had a constructive meeting today, and Sens. Reid and McConnell are discussing a potential agreement,” Obama said Friday afternoon, shortly after hosting Reid, McConnell, Boehner and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for a last-minute White House summit on the fiscal cliff. “I’m optimistic we may still be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time.”
But everyone in Washington, starting with the president, is couching that sort of optimism in a good deal of contingency planning.
The marching orders are this: Reid and McConnell will hunker down for the next 24 hours or so, with the task of hashing out as complete a plan as they can to extend some tax rate levels, avoid an interruption in unemployment benefits, delay the onset of sequestration cuts, extend the government’s borrowing authority and offset the cost of all that with some combination of spending cuts or cost reducers.
No one is expecting that they will be able to do all of that.
“I still want to get this done … but the hour for immediate action is here. It is now,” Obama said. “We’re now at the last minute ... let’s not miss this deadline.”
If Reid and McConnell aren’t able to come up with a recipe to solve the fiscal cliff, the president added, he wants Reid to put a “basic package” of measures “that makes sure taxes on middle class families don’t go up” and extends unemployment benefits without making spending cuts on the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. Reid said Friday that he would prepare such a back-up bill so that it would be ready for a vote by New Year’s Eve.
“That’s the way this is supposed to work. If you can get a majority in the House, a majority in the Senate, we should be able to pass a bill,” Obama said.
It sounds simple. But even the president’s back-up plan will depend entirely on how well old political frenemies Reid and McConnell are able to work out their differences on a host of deep-seated disagreements in a matter of days.
In a way, it’s fitting that in the final hours, the fiscal cliff crisis should come down to Reid and McConnell, as they were the ones who divined it in the first place.
The fiscal cliff is the perfect storm of two basic events, both scheduled to take place Jan. 1: Rising tax rates and across-the-board budget cuts, that together could kick the economy back into a mini-recession over the next several months. The fiscal cliff is complicated by the nearly concurrent deadline on the debt limit: According to the U.S. Treasury, Congress must increase the national borrowing authority if the country is to be able to meet its debts after Dec. 31.
All of those elements have the mark of Reid and McConnell.
McConnell and Reid struck the agreement two years ago — when Boehner was still lowly leader of the minority — to extend tax rates at Bush-era tax cut levels for two years, and have them expire at the end of 2012.
In mid-2011, it was Reid’s idea to have across-the-board government cuts, known as sequestration, hit at the same time, if a “super committee” of lawmakers appointed under a deal to avoid hitting the national debt limit couldn’t come up with a list of spending cuts by their Thanksgiving 2011 deadline.
And it was McConnell, under the same deal, who divined the system under which Obama would be given his increased borrowing authority, up to the limit we are about to hit at year’s end.
After their meeting with Obama and other congressional leaders Friday, McConnell and Reid were sounding cautiously optimistic that they would be able to shake hands on something by Sunday afternoon, which is when both senators and House members are expected to return to Washington to discuss the details of their anticipated agreement and determine whether votes will be held.
McConnell said he is “hopeful and optimistic” and said he and Reid would be “working hard to try and see if we can get there (to a deal) in the next 24 hours.”
Reid also said that he was “going to do everything that I can” and expressed confidence that McConnell would as well. But he also warned lawmakers that they should keep expectations low.
“Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect. Some people aren’t going to like it, some people are going to like it less, but that’s where we are,” Reid said. “We’re going to do the best we can.”
It is, nonetheless, a different tone from Reid, who for the past several weeks has insisted that the only way to avoid the fiscal cliff is if Republicans in the House hold a vote on the Senate’s bill to extend cut tax rates up to $250,000, but allow them to rise on income levels above that.
The Senate passed a bill to do just that on a simple majority vote in July. But McConnell has argued that the only reason he ever agreed not to filibuster that bill is that it is constitutionally null and void — all bills to raise revenue, such as a tax bill, must originate in the House, and the Senate’s $250,000 measure did not.
It is unlikely, given that history, that McConnell would readily agree to withhold the threat to filibuster the president’s back-up plan, which basically amounts to exactly what Reid had been demanding in a more constitutionally-appropriate vehicle, plus an extension of emergency unemployment benefits.
Boehner agreed to consider any bill the Senate sends over “either by accepting or amending,” so long as the Senate presents it as an amendment to House-passed legislation.
According to an aide for Boehner, congressional leaders and the president agreed Friday “that the next step should be the Senate taking bipartisan action.”
The fiscal cliff is a hoax designed by these robin hoods for the rich to cut the country up a little finer amongst themselves at the expense of the working class.
How did we get here
What is amazing is that Obama signed all the laws that have created the current need to increase the debt ceiling.
First - the Bush tax rate extension until Jan 2013 was passed by Reid and Pelosi and signed by Obama Dec 2010.
Second - Obamacare which raise $600 billion in new middle class taxes was passed by Reid and Pelosi and signed by Obama March 2010.
Third - the trillion dollar sequester bill was fostered and then signed by Obama in 2011.
Fourth - Obama begged for and got the payroll tax 2.3% roll back three years in a row costing $120 million per year.
And the original grand bargain deal with the House to raise taxes by $800 billion was nixed by Obama. Now post-election Obama is doubling the revenue demand to $1.6 trillion and still rejecting elimination/capping deductions and loopholes.
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Finally. Finally
Harry Reid admitted he must act
Harry has till Sunday Morning to pass through the Senate their amendments to HR 8
On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, the House PASSED H.R. 8, the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012, to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class
The way Congress works is the Senate must take that bill and modify it if they want with amendments and pass it and send it back to the House for reconciliation
To date Reid has not let the Senate act
Just another obvious point the Senate can not initiate a tax bill (which must be blue slipped) hence the Senate must act on the PASSED House Bill.
This is awesome! Did you know that more then 140 prominent conservatives sent a letter to all U.S. Republican legislators telling them that in NO way are they to deal with those democrats on that fiscal cliff thing".and telling them that there WILL be consequences if the do! From the letter: "If Republicans cave in now, when it really counts, next time you will be weaker, because your conservative base will be outraged". "Many who worked hard to elect you in the past will never lift a finger for you again." I just love it when conservatives truly stand up for America! Wow! Even Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clearance Thomas, signed it! Just like we have been saying all along".those Republicans better toe the TeaPublican line and say NO to everything".or we are going to run them right out of office come the next primary election! We TeaPublicans WILL take back America in 2014 and 2016".and we WILL take back any un-patriotic Republicans too!
hope (Reid) vs. hate (McDonnald)
Reid has done nothing in the Senate for years on this budget issue. I doubt if he will do anything at this point. He takes him marching orders from Obama's handlers and it is in their best interest to do nothing. Blaming the Republicans does not cut it anymore. I wish Harry would do something productive to earn his salary.
Didn't they know this was coming....if you miss a dead line where I work then you will need to be looking for a new job...cause they just walked you to the door.......Mr. Reid and Mr Boehner.....
Our federal government is incapable of governing... we deserve another credit downgrade and all that comes with it.
Motorsports the senate has NOT passed a bill. The only thing Reid and the senate has passed in the buck! Not one, can you read, NOT one Dem, voted for Obamas plan. Reid and his senate haven't passed a budget for over 1300 days.
Boehner takes his orders from the people that elected him, unlike Reid.