On the issues: Rep. Michelle Steel and Jay Chen on abortion, immigration and healthcare Read more
The Republican-controlled House is poised to hold an all-night hearing on Thursday on the “fiscal Cliff”, when the US government runs out of money and Congress is forced into an 11th-hour deal on the tax and entitlement bills, in a repeat of the bitter battles that caused the government to run out of money during the 2011 to 2013 talks over the so-called “fiscal cliff”.
The House has passed a bill to avert the fiscal cliff, and on Wednesday the Senate passed a measure to fund the government until December 15, but the House is unlikely to pass the Senate bill, which would also require tax cuts for all income groups to expire and raise the debt ceiling, which could bring disaster to the nation’s credit rating and possibly bring down financial markets.
On a second day of debate, the House Republicans are likely to attempt to pass a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, which would make the entire issue even more difficult for Republicans to accept and to vote for. However, House Republicans have said they are willing to allow a vote on the defunding issue, and are prepared to vote in its favour.
The debate on the fiscal cliff, however, is likely to drag past midnight, well past when it would be possible to force a vote on the debt ceiling, and it is almost impossible to pass a budget in this atmosphere.
The House has passed a bill to avert the fiscal cliff, and on Wednesday the Senate passed a measure to fund the government until December 15, but the House is unlikely to pass the Senate bill, which would also require tax cuts for all income groups to expire and raise the debt ceiling, which could bring disaster to the nation’s credit rating and possibly bring down financial markets
At the moment, in the US Senate the two sides are discussing the prospect of extending the deadline for the cliff until October 1, despite the fact that no one has ruled out the possibility of a long term deal, after the first stage of the crisis is over.
The Democrats’ position is that the US government is continuing to
