The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, has signalled that he is not planning to quit after a congressional debacle that left negotiations over US debt and spending in chaos and brought closer the prospect of the country falling over the “fiscal cliff” on 1 January. With house members having left Washington on Thursday night for Christmas and senators scheduled to leave Friday afternoon, the prospect of a deal before the deadline appeared bleak. Boehner, speaking at a press conference on Friday morning regarding how a deal could be found, summed up the mood in Washington. “How we get there? God only knows,” he said. The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, to whom Boehner shifted responsibility for finding a deal, made an opening bid, suggesting the Senate take up a bill that has already passed the House that would extend for another year the present tax breaks for everyone that were introduced during the presidency of George W Bush. The proposal will not fly for the Democrats, but at least it is the start of a process. Until now, McConnell has shown little interest in becoming involved in the negotiations. McConnell proposed the House bill as a starting point to which the Democrats could introduce amendments and differences between the House and Senate versions be hammered out. “It’s called legislating, folks,” McConnell said. “It’s what Congress used to do.” Read more http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/...cal-life-after-failure-of-fiscal-cliff-talks/
