Even then, however, I was skeptical. From the standpoint of the GOP it makes no sense. The only logical premise seems to be that Boehner will be safer to wait till he's re-elected as House Speaker before passing something.
However, there's little doubt that the deal they could get in the Congress coming in 10 days will be worse than what they can get now as by then taxes will have already gone up and the new Congress will be significantly more Democratic than this one.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/12/boehners-new-plan-for-abidcation-of-his.html
There is a narrative that what's happening is that many GOP House members fear a primary on the Right more than anything.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/the-logic-of-house-gop-intransigence-85546_Page2.html
However, even among Republican voters, there's far from unanimity that taxes should not be raised on the rich
What I have suspected is that Boehner has to put on a really good show. Maybe he's done enough now to lock in Speaker again-no one has challenged him. In any case, yesterday afternoon we started getting a story from the GOP about Obama "finally" talking about a deal. Scott Brown claimed to know something, though the Democrats knocked down the story.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/12/amid-fiscal-cliff-pessimism-what-does.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29
Then the House GOP announced that it would reconvene on Sunday night. Previously, they had seemed unconcerned but it may be starting to dawn on them that they will get the blame, particularly with them not even in session as we go over the cliff. Harry Reid may have gotten to them when he pointed this out:
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid remained less than optimistic on Thursday, declaring that America is heading over the cliff and placing the blame squarely at House Speaker John Boehner's feet."
“The American people are waiting for the ball to drop, but it’s not going to be a good drop. Because Americans’ taxes are approaching the wrong direction,” he said on the Senate floor. “Come the first of this year, Americans will have less income than they have today. If we go over the cliff, and it looks like that’s where we’re headed, the House of Representatives — as we speak with four days left after today before the first of the year — aren’t here. … I can’t imagine their consciences.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-to-meet-with-congressional-leaders-friday?ref=fpa
So today the President will meet with congressional leaders today to yet again try to get something done. The conventional wisdom now is that at most we can get a "small deal." This still doesn't make much sense to me-the deals that Boehner and the President put out weren't so far apart. Still there's nothing wrong with a small deal as long as it doesn't contain a tax cut extension for the rich.
"President Obama will host Congressional leaders at the White House on Friday in hopes of reaching a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, the White House and House Speaker John Boehner's office announced Thursday. Vice President Biden will also attend the meeting."
"Tomorrow, Speaker Boehner will attend a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, where he will continue to stress that the House has already passed legislation to avert the entire fiscal cliff and now the Senate must act," a Boehner aide said in an email.
Boehner ignores that the Senate sent him a bill from the Summer where the tax cuts for those under $250,000 were made permanent. While technically such budget bills are supposed to originate in the House, Boehner could waive that requirement and vote on the bill.
So this could still happen. In a way it wouldn't really shock me.
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