White House pre-spins fiscal cliff defeat

Published December 31, 2012 5:00am ET



Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly struck a deal with Vice President Joe Biden on at least the tax side of the fiscal cliff and liberals are not happy. Phil Klein has outlined the details of the agreement here, and The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein estimates the tax hikes will net the federal government about $660 billion in revenue. Klein goes on to report:

A top Senate staffer on the Democrats’ side e-mailed me with a similar sentiment. He’d heard the McConnell-Biden deal was in the range of $660 billion. That’s “$940b below the President’s initial position, $340b below Boehner’s last offer, and $140b below the $800b the President told Boehner he gets for free,” he griped.

So how does Obama plan to sell a fiscal cliff tax hike that raises less revenue than Boehner’s first offer? Klein again:

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