The Note’s Must-Reads for Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Note’s Must-Reads are a round-up of today’s political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com
Compiled by ABC News’ Jayce Henderson, Amanda VanAllen, and Carrie Halperin
FISCAL CLIFF:
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer, John Parkinson and Sunlen Miller: “President Obama Hails ‘Cliff’ Deal, Warns of Next Fiscal Fight” Minutes after the House of Representatives approved a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” and preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year, President Obama praised party leaders and wasted little time turning to the next fiscal fight. “This is one step in the broader effort to strengthen our economy for everybody,” Obama said. LINK
The Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Rowland: “House OK’s fiscal deal as GOP resistance wanes” Almost 24 hours after Congress careened off the fiscal cliff, a bipartisan House of Representatives late Tuesday approved a Senate bill reversing income tax increases and pulling the nation back from the potentially calamitous economic consequences. The vote did not come easily. LINK
The Hill’s Russell Berman: “Boehner tells GOP he’s through with one-on-one Obama talks” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama. During both 2011 and 2012, the Speaker spent weeks shuttling between the Capitol and the White House for meetings with the president in the hopes of striking a grand bargain on the deficit. LINK
The Los Angeles Times’ David Lauter: “Parties role reversal complicates spending debates” Congress has become the butt of late-night comedians for waiting until the last minute to do any work, yet its procrastination involves something more than fecklessness: The issue over which it keeps stumbling not only separates its two parties into warring camps, but divides them internally. At its core, the debate over the size of government and how to pay for it pits the interests of the huge baby boom generation, now mostly in their 50s and 60s, against the needs of the even larger cohort in their teens and 20s. LINK
The Washington Times’ Dave Boyer: “Tax hike deal: Obama’s first or GOP’s last?” President Obama and congressional Republicans have learned sharply different lessons from the deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” as they prepare to battle again over the next two months on a series of budget deadlines that carry risks such as crippling defense cuts and a government default. Mr. Obama, having won the first round by forcing congressional Republicans to accept a tax increase for the first time in 20 years, said the deal set a precedent for agreements on deficit reduction and federal spending. All deals, he said, must achieve balance by requiring wealthier individuals or corporations to pay more taxes. LINK
The New York Times’ Jonathan Weisman: “Tax Deal Shows Possible Path Around House G.O.P. in Fiscal Fights to Come” With the contentious 112th Congress coming to a close, the talks between the White House, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats that secured a path around a looming fiscal crisis on Tuesday may point the way forward for President Obama as he tries to navigate his second term around House Republicans intent on blocking his agenda in the 113th. LINK
Politico’s Steven Sloan: “Dems will need new game plan to score tax revenue” The fiscal cliff deal handed Democrats a tax victory years in the making, but it also means the party will need a new playbook for the budget battles that lie ahead. That’s because many Democrats readily acknowledge that they’ve exhausted their ability to raise taxes on the richest Americans by jacking up their rates. LINK
SANDY AID:
New York Daily News’ Joseph Straw, Erin Durkin and Corky Siemaszko: “In an about face, House Speaker Boehner promises quick action on $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy Aid” Facing a storm of outrage, House Speaker John Boehner did an about face Wednesday and promised to quickly pass $60 billion in Hurricane Sandy aid – a day after abruptly canceling a vote on the package. Officials from New York and surrounding states had spent much of the day blasting Boehner for initially yanking the Sandy aid from consideration. Some of the fiercest criticism came from fellow Republicans. LINK
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank: “Defined by a Sandy sidestep” The end-of-term reviews of John Boehner’s House speakership are in, and they aren’t pretty. “The conduct of the Republican leadership was disgraceful, it was indefensible and it was immoral.” LINK
CONGRESS:
USA Today’s Fredreka Schouten: “Fundraising begins anew for newly elected to Congress” Welcome to Congress. Now get back to fundraising. More than 40% of the 82 incoming House freshmen had more debt than leftover cash in the bank, a USA TODAY analysis of final election reports shows. LINK
ABC NEWS VIDEOS
“Hillary Clinton Spotted Outside Hospital” LINK
BOOKMARKS:
The Note: LINK
The Must-Reads Online: LINK
Top Line Webcast (12noon EST M-F): LINK
ABC News Politics: LINK
The Political Punch (Jake Tapper): LINK
George’s Bottom Line (George Stephanopoulos): LINK
Follow ABC News on Twitter: LINK
ABC News Mobile: LINK
ABC News app on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad: LINK
a tax victory? 1.6 trillion in new tax was promissed and you got 600 billion from people making over 400k. the only real taxes raised were obamacare taxes which hit 77% of americans. thats some pretty good drubbing of the middle class and poor by the democrats .
Posted by: catman | January 3, 2013, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm