I hadn’t seen this post by Noam Scheiber until now. He has a far harsher take on the deal. But at the end, he and I seem to have a fairly similar take, which is that the deal itself isn’t too bad purely on its own terms. What’s worrisome is what it portends about the next confrontation and the one after that. Read More

Vice President Joe Biden is expected to head to the Hill tonight to rally wavering Senate Democrats to support the fiscal cliff deal he’s trying to strike with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — but the timing of the Biden cameo is still uncertain as negotiations to finalize a proposal apparently continue.

Late Update: Senate Democrats will meet at 9:15 p.m. ET, at which time Biden will make his pitch.

It’s looking an awful lot like Congress won’t pass any fiscal cliff legislation tonight and the Bush tax rates will expire as scheduled at midnight. And yet the Senate is still buzzing and both parties seem to be charging ahead as if nothing changes in six and a half hours.

I’ll admit I’m a bit mystified by this. Read More

Through the last few weeks of budget negotiations, there’s been a backdraft of commentary suggesting that for all the talk about defeat for Republican principles, the tax rate endgame actually represents a massive vindication of Republican tax-cutting principles. Here’s but one example from today. After all, virtually every deal discussed involves making the great majority of the Bush tax cuts permanent. This is partly right but mainly wrong. Read More