Lieberman: ball in Senate court: 7 days to the fiscal cliff

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Fiscal Cliff Notes for Dec. 24, 2012

7 days to the fiscal cliff

One week to go….and on this day before Christmas, with Washington quiet, there is no clear path to avoid the looming Dec. 31 fiscal cliff. Congressional leaders and President Barack Obama will likely return to Washington later this week.

In the meantime, I leave you with the analysis of departing Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT.) who was asked by CNN’s Candy Crowley Sunday on her “State of the Union” show how does this fiscal cliff deal making play out?

” Well, Candy, I will tell you in the aftermath of House Republicans rejecting Speaker Boehner’s so-called Plan B, it’s the first time that I feel that it’s more likely that will go over the cliff than not. And that — if we allow that to happen, it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history, because of the impact it will have on almost every American — taxes up, programs cut, probably sending us back into a recession.

“So the ball is now clearly with the Senate. Senator Reid and Senator McConnell have the ability to put this together again and pass something. It won’t be a big, grand bargain to take care of the total debt, but they can do some things that will avoid the worst consequences going over the fiscal cliff. I can tell you that talked to a lot of Republican colleagues in the Senate who are favorably inclined toward the idea it to protect the middle class from the tax cuts, let’s raise taxes on people over 250,000, and let’s stop those terrible cuts in defense, homeland security, education, et cetera.”