WASHINGTON — Congress members will be going home for a Christmas holiday — if only in their dreams.
Republican leaders yesterday threw cold water on Christmas plans with a stern warning that fiscal-cliff negotiations are going nowhere, and neither are lawmakers.
“We are going to stay here right up until Christmas Eve, throughout the time and period before the New Year, because we want to make sure that we resolve this in an acceptable way for the American people,” declared House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
The warning underscored the huge gulf that still separates President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in the talks, despite this week’s spate of one-on-one negotiating and intense back-room haggling.
If they can’t reach a deal by Jan. 1, the US goes over the fiscal cliff and gets whacked with steep tax hikes for nearly all Americans and sweeping, federal spending cuts, mostly to the military.
Even if Obama and Boehner strike a deal now, Congress needs several days to have budget officials crunch the numbers and give lawmakers time to study the bill before a vote.
Time is running out fast to get a deal through Congress before Christmas.
Boehner described his telephone conversation Tuesday night with Obama as “deliberate.” When they spoke Sunday, Boehner called it “cordial.”
“We spoke honestly and openly about the differences that we face,” he said. “But the president’s calling for $1.4 trillion worth of [tax] revenue. That cannot pass the House or the Senate.”
The White House said the talks bogged down because Republicans won’t agree to raise tax rates on the rich, instead offering $800 billion from ending loopholes and deductions.
“We haven’t heard anything from the [GOP] leadership that suggests they have moved off their position,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Still, a compromise proposal circulating on Captitol Hill included a tax hike on the rich that Obama wants and spending cuts to entitlements like Medicare and Social Security that Republicans want.
The compromise is a tough sell for both Republicans opposed to tax hikes and Democrats opposed to tinkering with safety nets.