Economy & Small Business
The fiscal cliff fiasco has been perhaps a fitting end to a year and a legislative session full of frustrating, down-to-the-wire legislative battles. Passing major legislation is often such a contentious, eleventh-hour process, it seems as if all of Washington is hopelessly dysfunctional. While this is largely true, there are a few congressional success stories worth highlighting.
The media coverage of the fiscal cliff misses the point so consistently, it's enough to provoke a James Carville-esque outburst to remind them: "It's the spending, Stupid." The fixation with the tax side of the equation obscures that the real solution to the fiscal cliff involves spending cuts and entitlement reform.
Days after President Obama presented his opening offer in the fiscal cliff negotiations, House Republicans presented our counterproposal as the next step in the process toward reaching consensus before the December 31st deadline.
The Hill - Kevin Bogardus
Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Sunday that House Republicans should agree to extending tax cuts for the majority of U.S. taxpayers.
With less than a month to go before the fiscal cliff deadline, there is no time for political posturing or rigid demands. Yet President Obama's opening offer in the fiscal cliff negotiations is so extreme and irresponsible that it has significantly undermined the process before discussions have even gotten off the ground.
Weekly Standard - John McCormack
Speaking Friday afternoon with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Oklahoma congressmanTom Cole, a Republican who has emerged this week as an advocate of compromising on taxes, panned President Obama's proposal to avert the fiscal cliff.
Politico - Tom Cole: John Boehner will make ‘tough’ fiscal cliff deal
Tulsa World - Randy Krehbiel
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., thinks he was only stating the obvious when he told a roomful of Republican members of Congress they should go along with Democrats in making temporary tax-rate reductions permanent for 98 percent of Americans.
Bloomberg - Kathleen Hunter & Roxana Tiron
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein is among the executives scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama today. The president is seeking business support for his campaign to extend tax cuts for middle-income Americans while letting rates rise for top earners.
Washington Post - Aaron Blake
Much of the news coverage of the so-called “fiscal cliff” in recent days has focused on whether Republicans are willing to violate their Grover Norquist-sponsored pledge not to vote to raise taxes.
But what if the the Norquist pledge doesn’t even apply to the current situation?