It's official: Deal reached on "fiscal cliff"

Vice President Joe Biden speaks following a Senate Democratic caucus meeting about the fiscal cliff on Capitol Hill, Dec. 31, 2012 in Washington. / AP

Updated at 2:44 a.m. Eastern

The ball in Times Square has dropped, 2013 is here and, technically, so is the "fiscal cliff", as Congress has yet to officially pass a plan to avert the scheduled spending cuts and tax hikes. But before panic sets in, although lawmakers failed to meet the midnight deadline, a deal is in place and the first step to making it official -- Senate passage -- is in the books.

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Senate approves "fiscal cliff" deal, sending bill to House for final vote

The Senate voted 89-8 in favor of the bill in the wee hours of New Year's Day, sending the deal along to the House, which must pass the measure in order for the "cliff" to be averted.

The House is expected to vote on the deal as early as today, but given tepid signals from House Republican leaders, the vote there will be an interesting one to watch.

"The House will honor its commitment to consider the Senate agreement if it is passed," the leaders, which included House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement after the agreement was announced last night. "Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members -- and the American people -- have been able to review the legislation."

President Obama released a written statement early Tuesday morning, praising the Senate and urging the House to follow suit.

"While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay," said Mr. Obama.

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Biden advises not to predict outcome of "cliff" deal

Vice President Joe Biden, who traveled to Capitol Hill to brief Senate Democrats on the details of the deal, briefly spoke to reporters, warning that there's no predicting what the House will do.

"Being in the Senate as long as I have, there's two things you shouldn't do: you shouldn't predict how the Senate will vote - you won't make a lot of money - and number two, you surely shouldn't predict how the House is going to vote. I feel very, very good. I think we'll have a good vote tonight, but Happy New Year," said Biden.

As the deal was not signed into law before midnight, the country has technically gone over the "cliff". However, unless the deal fails to clear Congress, any detrimental economic impact will be avoided, as language will likely be added to the final legislation that would make the agreement retroactive to midnight Jan. 1.

Here are the known details of the deal:

While the extension of unemployment benefits and the Medicare "doc fix" cost money, and revenue will be lost due to a fix in the Alternative Minimum Tax, the package will still increase the federal government's receipts. The total package will add $600 billion to federal coffers.

Also included in the deal is an unrelated provision but one that would have impacted Americans' pocketbooks. According to Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., negotiators agreed to a nine-month partial extension of the farm bill. The legislation, which dictates subsidies to crop and commodity growers, was also set to expire at midnight, and the impact was likely to cause milk prices to rise to $7 or $8 a gallon.

What has been left out of the "cliff" deal:

Emphasizing the importance of deficit reduction to his fellow Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the GOP's lead negotiator, urged his colleagues not to hold up a deal because budget cuts have not been addressed. Earlier in the day he called the tax portion of the "fiscal cliff" the most important component and said, "Let's take what's been agreed to and get moving."

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[Type_Z]

Let's talk reality.

Conservatives wish to keep our freedoms.

Liberals, like Michelle, "are not proud". Liberals support government control, power and making choices over there personal lives.

These two concepts are so polar opposite. Trouble is brewing.

[1pheasant1]

ZZZ! Let's talk dream state.

[Type_Z]

Touched a nerve I see.

[Kharitonova]

I'm from Belarus and I attentively read this article, trying to figure out what solution Republicans and Democrates have taken. I read many other article, but no one from them reveals full picture of what's going on. I found out the reason why "fiscal cliff" was born, I saw points what was accepted and how it would continue. I can't judge the settling dispute yet, but I'm worried about middle class and how this "fiscal cliff" will influence them. I've got a lot of information, but the other I'll observe in two months, according to this article.

[roper03]

We had the chance to get rid of them all, and we failed. Now we must live with the results of a poorly educated public. Our system in broken, and the President, the Congress, and the House are holding us hostage for another 4 years. May God have mercy on our children and grandchildren.

[R-F-Burns]

Did anyone catch in Biden's statement the following? "Being in the Senate as long as I have, there's two things you shouldn't do: you shouldn't predict how the Senate will vote - you won't make a lot of money".

Hmm..you all think he's talking about the government or the members of it and their supporters...or the country and it's people?

How about more to ponder on..and this one is so simple a pre schooler can figure it out. How can an economic system based on debt and relies on debt ever recover from debt? How does raising a debt ceiling prevent more debt which never recovers from the debt it relies on to function? What was warned about prior to the debt ceiling being raised of what would happen shortly down the road..and where are we now?

Since all these big wigs on the hill can't answer the easy questions and come up with the answers, how about some of you out there answer those elementary questions to such an elementary problem?

Want my answer? LET IT FAIL! LET IT GO OVER THE CLIFF! LET IT GO SPLAT!

Eliminate the problem by letting it eliminate itself, then the path is clear to do something different!

Now all that is needed is strong willed populace to stand on it's own two feet and endure the pains for once, and get over it so that solutions can be easily reached in a new system.

In case no one has figured it out yet..the current one isn't working.

Duh!

RFB

[tafhdyd]

TOPPER-MINNESOTA replies: Hey TAFHDYD! you are not a math major are you? How much debt is one your credit card? $1.2 Trillion a year for Obama. How much will your kids owe while you live it up?

------Hey TOPPER, Try shoveling snow instead of manure. My credit card came pre-loaded with the cost of two unfunded wars based on lies! Everything I buy is paid in full so the kids will owe nothing on my account.

[tb91006]

But they owe the government $200,000 and rising everyday.

[joelwisch2]

"The House will honor its commitment to consider the Senate agreement if it is passed," the leaders, which included House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement after the agreement was announced last night.
=====================================
They haven't cut a deal at all. The house is the part of Congress that agrees to deals on Obama's massive, over the top deficit spending.. NOT the Senate. At this point we need to know which Republican Senators dropped their brains off in the Boys Room before they voted, and make sure they cannot harm us again. The Senate is supplying the shaft to House Speaker John Boehner and we need.. we need what John Boehner is trying to achieve; Fiscal Sanity!

[knsn_for_cmn_sense]

So the deal is more pork spending and less income than projected.

How is this better than the cliff???

[askagain]

It probably isn't but it makes the President and Congress look like they are doing their jobs. More political posturing, funny math, and fudging things.

[legalbutunjust]

To answer, it's sorta like whatever I said yesterday that got my account dropped, KNSN.

I won't repeat those words again. I may however try a "re-phrase" if I am ever tempted to.

[stormerF69]

What a crapola bill this is,Extending Tax credits to renewable energy companies, for what more Solyndra screw-ups, that cost the tax payers Billions? Why $41.00 in Revenue for each Dollar in spending cuts, while there is new spending in this bill? This Bill is nothing more than evading the real pain and the longer we wait the more it will hurt. Stop spending now.

[sjc_1]

You tell us where you would cut 1000 billion dollars in spending each year. According to the GOP it can not be at the Pentagon, which spends more than the next TEN countries combined, including China, Russia, Germany, France, U.K. and Japan COMBINED!

[tb91006]

Nothing is more boring than listening to zombies like benjordan. The renewable energies we are wasting money have been around since the 1800's and have been a failure wherever they have been aggressively implemented bankrupting Spain and Germany now dropping their renewable energy program as well. We need to go far beyond the outdated wind and solar and focus on hydropower and biomass both cheaper to implement and more reliable.

At SJC ENTITLEMENTS buy your own cell phone, feed your own children and pay for your own rent and the list is endless

[georgedroy]

The lesson to be learned here for all those who want to raise taxes on the rich is that YOU'RE NEXT !!!!!!! The Democrats have been redefining 'wealthy' and 'poor' to suit their collectivist agenda for decades.
Hats off to the amazing wonders of a socialist Santa Claus government.

[quincytodd]

As usual, this means a deep cut in the entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security while the D.O.D. remains relatively unscathed by all of this. We need to turn over our bases in Germany to the Poles, Czechs and Hungarians and those in Japan to the Vietnamese and the Philippines to be manned. Let these other countries assume their responsibilities for a change!