Reid Says Congress Lacks Time to Resolve Budget Talks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the U.S. budget dispute probably won’t be resolved before Jan. 1 because Republicans won’t cooperate.

Story by Bloomberg

Written by Richard Rubin & Kathleen Hunter

“I don’t know time-wise how it can happen now,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor today in Washington. He blamed House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, both Republicans.

“Democrats can’t put together a plan on their own because without participation of Leader McConnell and Speaker Boehner nothing can happen on the fiscal cliff. And so far, they are radio silent,” he said.

The two sides are locked in a stalemate as they try to prevent more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts for 2013 scheduled to start taking effect in January. Each party is blaming the other for inaction.

Democrats, who control the Senate, say the House must back an extension of expiring tax cuts on income of married couples up to $250,000. The Republicans who control the House say it’s the Senate’s turn to act.

If Congress does nothing, taxes will go up in 2013 by an average of $3,446 for U.S. households, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington. Tax filing for up to two-thirds of Americans could be delayed into at least late March. Defense spending would be cut, and the economy would probably enter a recession in the first half of 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-27/reid-says-congress-lacks-time-to-resolve-budget-talks.html