Senate Vote Approves Fiscal Deal, Raises Taxes on Wealthiest Americans

I'm following on Twitter:

SENATE PASSES THE DEAL: 89-8. On to the House.
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDCNN) January 1, 2013

There's nothing like it for up-to-the-minute news and opinion:

Republican senators abandon their party, vote with Obama to raise taxes. #fiscalcliff #thirdparty #recall
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) January 1, 2013

And here's this just now at CNN, "Obama insisted on sequester buy down":

Washington (CNN) - Fiscal cliff negotiations between the White House and Congressional leaders involved late-night discussions in the Oval Office and an ultimate hardline from President Barack Obama, according to a source familiar with the process.

The source said it was the president who insisted the final deal include a pay down on the sequester and a tax increase that hit at least inviduals making $400,000 a year and $450,000 for households. That’s where the deal ended up.

On Monday, Republicans agreed to a plan that raises $620 billion in revenue over 10 years and makes a $24 billion down payment on deficit reduction through a combination of revenue and spending cuts – also a priority for the president. Those spending cuts have been pre-determined and will be evenly divided between defense and non-defense areas.

A source familiar with the discussions and revealing a slant on negotiations argued these deal points represented significant concessions from the GOP. This person insisted that because Republicans backed off their pledge to oppose tax rate increases for the wealthiest Americans and said this deal represents one of the most significant policy victories of the last two decades.

Not everyone has the same view. The progressive group moveon.org criticized the White House for moving off Obama’s pledge to raise taxes for households earning $250,000 and more and took issue with the short-term nature of the sequester delay.

“At the end of the day, poor and middle class families deserve a better deal than more tax cuts for the rich and the potential for another hostage situation in two months,” the organization said in a statement.

Damned commies.

More at the link.

And at the New York Times, "Grand Deals Give Way to Legislative Quick Fixes."

Like I said earlier, this has been the strangest New Year's Eve.

Added: From the New York Post, "Senate approves fiscal cliff legislation hours after midnight; House yet to vote."