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Even if lawmakers compromise, is there enough time to put together a fiscal cliff deal? POLITICO's Jonathan Allen explains
About 50 days until the U.S. reaches the fiscal cliff, the automatic round of spending cuts and tax increases that could plunge the country back into recession. We're seeing more signs today that lawmakers could strike a deal to avoid it.
The big news this weekend: Conservative pundit and "Weekly Standard" editor Bill Kristol tells Republicans it's time for fall on their swords.
"It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires," Kristol says on "Fox News Sunday." "It really won't, I don't think. I don't understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer to freeze taxes for everyone below $250,000...The Republican party is going to fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, and, the millionaires, half of whom voted Democrat and half of them live in Hollywood?"
But the questions remains: What would a deal look like and is there time left this year to put a full deal together?
This morning on "Early Start," Politico senior Washington correspondent Jonathan Allen explains.
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I wish CNN would provide viewers with a report about exactly what would happen in the short term if we were to go off the fiscal cliff. Would all the tax increases and spending cuts kick in immediately, or would there be months into the new year when a new deal could be brokered before any negative impact would be felt by the public? The term "fiscal cliff" has doomsday implications, but I wonder if it more hype than fact.