The top Democrat in the US Senate predicted
Thursday that no deal will be reached before year's end to avert the
harsh fiscal measures known as the fiscal cliff.
Hope seemed to be fading for an agreement to replace the steep
spending cuts and tax hikes that threaten to derail the US economy
with a more gradual deficit reduction package.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said "it looks like" the
US would head off the fiscal cliff next week.
He pointed the finger at Republicans who control the lower chamber
of Congress, noting they remained on Christmas vacation even as the
Senate and President Barack Obama returned to work Thursday.
"If we go over the cliff, we'll be left with the knowledge that it
could have been prevented with a single vote in a Republican
controlled House of Representatives," Reid said on the Senate floor.
A bill already passed in the Democratic-controlled Senate would
raise taxes on those making more than 250,000 dollars a year rather
than allowing all tax cuts to expire.
Reid called on House Republicans to vote on that measure, despite
Republican opposition to new taxes. Obama and his Democrats who want
to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Last week, House Speaker John Boehner proposed raising taxes for
those earning more than 1 million dollars per year but failed to
garner support within his own party.
"It's not too late for the speaker to take up the Senate-passed
bill but time on that is winding down," Reid said.
Obama returned to Washington Thursday after cutting short his
Christmas vacation in Hawaii for an intense round of talks to avoid
the severe austerity measures due to kick in at year's end.
The fiscal cliff refers to the expiration of all tax cuts
implemented under former president George W Bush coupled with
across-the-board spending cuts by the government.
Approved in August 2011 during a partisan standoff on raising the
debt ceiling, it was designed to force both sides to reach agreement
on deficit reduction measures.
If it were to take effect, government economists say the economy
would suffer a 600-billion-dollar blow in 2013 and be pushed back
into recession.
