Update: It's looking like House trolls will eat the bill! Note that if this Congress expires (in about 40 hours) before further damage from the slope is averted (it's never really been a cliff), the Senate bill is moot. The new Congress has to begin again. See the eight senators who voted against the bill.
The Biden, just prior to the vote, in good spirits and getting the job done when republicans got stuck in their own muck:
The House trolls arrive for work today. Boehner said the House would consider the Senate bill. But who knows what the House will do. They'll probably eat the bill:
Obama's statement:
Leaders from both parties in the Senate came together to reach an agreement that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support today that protects 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small business owners from a middle class tax hike. While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay.
This agreement will also grow the economy and shrink our deficits in a balanced way – by investing in our middle class, and by asking the wealthy to pay a little more.
What's more, today's agreement builds on previous efforts to reduce our deficits. Last year, I worked with Democrats and Republicans to cut spending by more than $1 trillion. Tonight’s agreement does even more by asking millionaires and billionaires to begin to pay their fair share for the first time in twenty years. As promised, that increase will be immediate, and it will be permanent.
There’s more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I’m willing to do it. But tonight’s agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans. And as we address our ongoing fiscal challenges, I will continue to fight every day on behalf of the middle class and all those fighting to get into the middle class to forge an economy that grows from the middle out, not from the top down.
