Fiscal Cliff Talks

I’m opposed to an automatic debt limit extension that President Obama wants. You can’t let a President have the power over raising the debt limit because it would weaken the power of Congress. The President would be able to raise the debt limit every time he felt it would be necessary without a balanced budget or spending cuts. There would be a point where the country would be unable to pay the debt back and we would be another Greece. I’m hoping The GOP sticks to their guns about keeping the debt ceiling as part of Congress’

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President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met at the White House on Monday after the top Republican negotiator made concessions over the weekend that moved the talks to a new level.

The 45-minute meeting was their third face-to-face discussion in eight days, a sign of acceleration in the negotiations that seek to avert the automatic tax increases and spending cuts of the fiscal cliff set to take effect in the new year.

Sources told CNN over the weekend that Boehner's latest proposal dropped Republican opposition to two key demands by Obama -- higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans and an automatic extension of the federal debt limit.

After reports emerged of Boehner's new offer, his office insisted that no deal had been reached but didn't dispute the information from the sources about the concessions.

"The lines of communication remain open, but there is no agreement, nor is one imminent," said Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney made clear to reporters Monday that more work needed to be done.

"The president's proposal is the only proposal that we have seen that achieves the balance that is so necessary" between revenue and cost-cutting, said Carney, who refused to discuss specifics.

"Any potential agreement would not only have to align with the president's principles, it would require tough choices by both sides, including the president and including Republicans,"Carney said.

On the Tea Party Nation website, prolific blogger Judson Phillips complained that Boehner was conceding too much too soon.

"If the Republicans in Congress allow John Boehner to continue to negotiate, Barack Obama will have total victory," Phillips wrote Monday in championing his group's conservative ideology of balancing the federal budget through spending cuts alone.

Congress had been scheduled to end its work last week, but legislators returned to Washington on Monday and leaders warned members to be prepared to stay until Christmas and return after the holiday until the year's end.

"It appears at this stage -- we'll see if anything changes -- but it appears we're going to be coming back the day after Christmas to complete work on the fiscal cliff," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Monday.

On Monday, multiple sources familiar with the talks told CNN that the negotiations now focus on a $2 trillion framework that would include roughly $1 trillion in revenue from tax hikes and reforms and $1 trillion in savings from entitlement programs and spending cuts.

According to the sources, the framework under discussion is being pushed by Republicans, and it was unclear if the plan could get enough support from Democrats to win congressional approval in the next two weeks.

Obama's liberal base opposes substantive reforms to entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Democratic sources said the $1 trillion in savings under consideration in the deficit talks includes changes to Medicare, including a discussion of raising the current eligibility age of 65.

Boehner's concessions on some higher tax rates and the debt ceiling sought to put the onus on Obama to bring Democrats closer to the changes sought by the GOP.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/17/politics/fiscal-cliff/index.html