Which Congress is Responsible For The Fiscal Cliff Legislation?

[Yssup Rider]

where you get that, huh?

Love your reviews btw.

Very good.

[Sidewinder]

Originally Posted by Jackie S

This is an automatic law that has already been voted on and signed into law by a previous Congress and President. I don't remember which one. Anybody know?

You need to pay more attention to the news.

Earlier this year, the Feds were spending full speed ahead, and headed straight for the debt limit.

Obama demanded that the debt ceiling be raised. The Republicans in the House of Representatives balked, demanding spending cuts instead. A compromise was worked out, and signed into law, that said that the debt ceiling would be raised, and a supercommittee of Republicans and Democrats would negotiate and come up with spending cuts. Further, to incentivize them, if they did NOT come up with an adequate package of spending cuts by the end of the calendar year, automatic across-the-board cuts would go into effect.

This bill was passed by the current Congress (Republican-controlled House, Democrat-controlled Senate) and signed into law by the President Barack Hussein Obama.

Needless to say, the supercommittee failed to agree on cuts. (The Democrats were absolutely unwilling to cut one dollar from ANYTHING.)

Meanwhile, some ten years ago, when the Republicans had control of both houses of Congress, and George W. Bush was in office, a set of tax cuts was enacted into law, with a ten-year sunset provision. Those tax cuts expire at the end of this year.

The "fiscal cliff" is the combination of the automatic spending cuts, which will force a LOT of things to happen, most of them bad, and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which will raise taxes on pretty much every taxpayer in the country.

[Jackie S]

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

You need to pay more attention to the news.

Earlier this year, the Feds were spending full speed ahead, and headed straight for the debt limit.

Obama demanded that the debt ceiling be raised. The Republicans in the House of Representatives balked, demanding spending cuts instead. A compromise was worked out, and signed into law, that said that the debt ceiling would be raised, and a supercommittee of Republicans and Democrats would negotiate and come up with spending cuts. Further, to incentivize them, if they did NOT come up with an adequate package of spending cuts by the end of the calendar year, automatic across-the-board cuts would go into effect.

This bill was passed by the current Congress (Republican-controlled House, Democrat-controlled Senate) and signed into law by the President Barack Hussein Obama.

Needless to say, the supercommittee failed to agree on cuts. (The Democrats were absolutely unwilling to cut one dollar from ANYTHING.)

Meanwhile, some ten years ago, when the Republicans had control of both houses of Congress, and George W. Bush was in office, a set of tax cuts was enacted into law, with a ten-year sunset provision. Those tax cuts expire at the end of this year.

The "fiscal cliff" is the combination of the automatic spending cuts, which will force a LOT of things to happen, most of them bad, and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which will raise taxes on pretty much every taxpayer in the country.

Pay attention to the news??? Sure.
You get a different answer as to who is to blame for this mess depending on which network you are listenning too.
Maybe you need to understand that this is nothing but Politics, and all of this is the fault of polititians pandering to what ever crowd they think they need to please at the moment.
Everybody says it is so bad. Well, a junkie withdrawing from heroin is bad to, but it's the only way to kick the habit.
We are a Country of junkies, depending more and more for some Government Entity to take care of us.

[ck1942]

For those interested in factual history....per the Congressional Research Service:

Sequestration is of current interest because it was included as an enforcement tool in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA, P.L. 112-25). Sequestration can also occur under the Statutory Pay-
As-You-Go Act of 2010 (Statutory PAYGO, Title I of P.L. 111-139). In either case, certain programs are exempt from sequestration, and special rules govern the effects of sequestration on others. Most of these provisions are found in Sections 255 and 256 of BBEDCA, as amended.

Or, in plain English.... Democrats and Republicans in the respective Congresses in power in 2010 and 2011 passed the Bill and the President signed it into law.

Here's a reference link: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42050.pdf

imho, doesn't matter if we go over the cliff or not. We all have been collectively f*cked by those in power.