A deal has been agreed between the White House and Republican politicians to avert the 'fiscal cliff', an administration source told Reuters.
President Obama and Senate Republicans have reached a deal that will see income taxes rise for the first time in more than two decades, thus averting the worst effects of the 'fiscal cliff', according to the Washington Post.
The White House and Republican Party have agreed a deal that would avert the 'fiscal cliff', a Senate Democratic aide told the Associated Press.
A possible deal between Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Joe Biden to avert the 'fiscal cliff' would include a two-month delay in automatic federal spending cuts due to begin this week, according to Republican Senator John McCain.
McCain said the deal would include $24 billion in other spending cuts to cover the cost of the delay, and would also include a one-year extension of unemployment benefits.
The US Treasury has that said it will hit a legal limit on borrowing but will launching new measures to keep the nation from defaulting on its debt.
In a separate letter, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders that the government would suspend some investments in pension and health benefit funds for federal workers to free up borrowing authority.
The suspension of the investments is part of a series of measures announced last week to keep the country from defaulting on its debt.
US Senate Democrats are sceptical of the Vice President's "fiscal cliff" deal and are seeking a meeting with Joe Biden to discuss it, an aide has told Reuters.
Congress will not meet the midnight deadline on voting to avert the "fiscal cliff," according to AP.
The US House of Representatives may not vote on any "fiscal cliff" deal before the midnight deadline, which is likely to push the vote in to the New Year a Republic aide has told Reuters.
The impending "fiscal cliff" has been a cause for discussion across the US and has been mentioned on Twitter 1.4 million times in the last month, according to the Twitter government and politics team:
1.4 million: the number of Twitter mentions for #fiscalcliff and "fiscal cliff" in the last 30 days with one-third in the last week.
From @gov on Twitter:For more on the tax rises and spending cuts that make up the "fiscal cliff" click here.
Top US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell has said that all talks with Vice President Joe Biden have been "successful" and an agreement has been reached on all tax issues.
He said that an agreement is "very close" and the Senate should pass the tax portions of the plan but that spending reduction talks will continue.
The people who are here with me today, the people who are watching at home, they need our leaders in Congress to succeed. They need us to all stay focused on them.
They expect our leaders to succeed on their behalf and so do I, so keep the pressure on over the next twelve hours or so and let's see if we can get this thing done.
