Senate to Vote Tonight on Budget Deal Forged by White House
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said tonight the chamber would vote on an agreement between the White House and Republicans to prevent tax increases scheduled to take effect tomorrow for almost every U.S. worker.
Reid spoke after a meeting with Senate Democrats at which Vice President Joe Biden pitched the plan to party members, several of whom had earlier expressed reservations about the accord. Lawmakers including Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said afterward they expected wide support for the plan.
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“There are many many reasons people don’t like the proposal,” Schumer said. “But there’s very close to unanimity that it’s better than going over the cliff.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-01/senate-to-vote-tonight-on-budget-deal-forged-by-white-house.html
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Harry Reid finds a microphone and reveals that the delay is because everyone is waiting for Congressional Budget Office scoring on the deal before a vote.
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The word from the Democratic caucus is that Biden sold the deal to the senators with an assurance that President Obama would not be backing down on the debt ceiling battle that is coming in early March. Ha ha.
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Sen Feinstein thinks more than 10 but probably fewer than 20 Democrats will vote no on 'cliff' bill.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/31/fiscal-cliff-congress-deadline-live#block-50e2037a95cb94a7be21b5da