House GOP threatens to scuttle fiscal cliff deal

The bill enjoyed strong support from Republicans in the Senate, but the House wants more spending cuts

Eric Cantor
(Image credit: Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images)

House Republicans, led by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), are putting up strong opposition to a bipartisan tax bill passed earlier Tuesday by the Senate. House Republicans are steaming over the fact that the bill, which extends the Bush tax cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans, does not contain enough spending cuts. "The lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern among members," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio).

Republicans reportedly want to amend the bill with more spending cuts, a move that would surely upend a compromise carefully constructed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden. As a result, the possibility is growing that Congress will fail to extend the Bush tax cuts for 99 percent of Americans before the 112th Congress ends on Thursday. At that point, a newly elected Congress will be sworn in, a new bill will have to be crafted, and the window to mitigate the damaging effects of across-the-board tax hikes will narrow.

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.