House Democratic leadership: Obama's 'more than halfway' offer is the new starting point

[iandhr]

35. Theres conflicting information

Here is a Times article that says the President has a plan B of his own.


President Obama is considering a “Plan B” of his own to avert a fiscal crisis in the New Year, a bill to extend expiring Bush-era tax rates on incomes below $250,000, with a measure to temporarily suspend automatic, across-the-board spending cuts and an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, Democratic officials said Friday.

The bill would be similar to legislation already passed by the Senate, but the added measures delaying so-called “sequestration” and helping the unemployed would make it that much more difficult for Republicans to oppose, Democrats said. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, was meeting with the president Friday afternoon to consult on ways forward. A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Mr. Reid would only move forward with the stripped-down bill to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff if Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, agreed not to filibuster it.

Asked whether he would do that, Mr. McConnell stepped onto an elevator and said “Merry Christmas.”

With just days to go before a the automatic tax increases and spending cuts go into effect, Democrats are increasingly giving up hope on a major deficit reduction deal. They hope a fallback plan would win so much support in the Senate that Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio would feel no choice but to bring it to the House floor, where a combination of Democrats and Republicans would push to passage.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/politics/debt-reckoning.html?hp#sha=d1bc2cc67