Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

Senate Passes Budget Deal 89-8, - finally, in the early morning hours, a stop gap "fiscal cliff" deal was passed by the Senate and now moves to the House for a vote.

In the legislation, which is still being examined, taxes would go up for individuals making over $400,000 and unemployment benefits would be extended for one year.  Also, 27% reduction in payments to doctors under medicare would be stopped.

In addition, scheduled sequester spending cuts would be delayed for two months, an expiring dairy policy was extended to avoid a spike in mike prices and scheduled pay raises for congress were cancelled.

Exra Klein of The Wsahington Post has details of the deal here.

The eight senators voting no were Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tom Carper (D-DE), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Rand Paul (R-KY), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Richard Shelby (R-AL).

Not voting were Jim DeMint (R-SC), Mark Kirk (R-IL), and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).

The Dow closed up 166 points the end of Monday.

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Biden, Man of the Hour - when "fiscal cliff" negotiations broke down between Senate Majority Leader Harry reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), it was Vice President Joe Biden who helped forge the New Years Day deal in the Senate.

Now, Biden is meeting with House Democrats as he works to gain their support for the bill that passed 89-8 in the Senate.  TheHill.com has more here.

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Next Battle: Debt Limit, Tax Reform and Spending Cuts - while, a tax hike for over 98% of Americans was averted by the Senate deal, and hopefully confirmation by the House, huge Congressional battles remain over scheduled sequester cuts and the national debt limit.

Both issues will come to a head by the end of February and promise to be a huge debate in Congress.  NBC.com has more here.

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Stop the gun madness - a good read by Eugene Robinson.  "...In 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 Americans. Most of the deaths were suicides; a few were accidental. About a third of them — 11,078 — were homicides. That’s almost twice the number of Americans who have been killed in a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
 
In Britain, by comparison, the number of gun homicides in 2010 was 58....."

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