Search for Way Through Fiscal Impasse Turns to the Senate

Source: NYT

With little more than a week for lawmakers to avert huge tax increases and spending cuts, attention is turning from the gridlocked House to the Senate, where some Republicans on Sunday endorsed President Obama’s call for a partial deal to insulate most Americans from the tax increases but defer a resolution on spending.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, and Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, implored Senate leaders to reach an accommodation with Mr. Obama when Congress returns on Thursday, even if that means that taxes would go up for those with high incomes but that spending cuts would be put off.

Mrs. Hutchison, appearing on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” said the tax cuts signed into law by President George W. Bush should be extended “at a reasonable salary level.”

“We can’t let taxes go up on working people in this country,” she said, backing Mr. Obama’s calls for a stripped-down temporary measure. “It is going to be a patch because, in four days, we can’t solve everything.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/us/politics/search-for-deal-in-fiscal-impasse-turns-to-senate.html?pagewanted=all