In their first face-face meeting since November 16th, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met to discuss how to stop the looming fiscal cliff; a move that showed rare bipartisan agreement since the heated talks started.
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With a little over three weeks until the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts go into effect, Obama and Boehner had a one-on-one meeting over the weekend to hash out their disagreements on how to proceed. With Republicans favoring additional revenue to come from tax reform (including eliminating deductions and loopholes), Obama demands that tax rates be increased for upper-income brackets. Disagreements over next year’s debt ceiling have also kept the politicians to make a decision:
Another sticky issue — whether the need to raise the federal debt ceiling early next year should be part of the discussion — remains unresolved. Obama says absolutely not, while Boehner says that any increase in the federal borrowing limit must be offset by spending cuts.
As of now, neither party has given specifics about the talks from Sunday, but separate statements on Monday indicated core tax and spending issues unresolved. However, both sides agree that more revenue from taxes should be a solution.
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Negotiations could continue into the new year, a move economists say will throw us into a recession. Let’s hope both sides are able to reason with each other for the better good of our country.
SOURCE: CNN
