10 things you need to know today: January 2, 2013

The House passes the fiscal-cliff deal, Sandy Hook students return to class, and more in our roundup of the stories that are making news and driving opinion

A child gazes from a school bus as it passes by a Newtown, Conn., church on Dec. 18, where a funeral service for a Sandy Hook victim was being held.
(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

1. HOUSE PASSES FISCAL-CLIFF DEAL

In a dramatic conclusion of the fiscal-cliff showdown, the House approved a deal late Tuesday canceling tax increases for the vast majority of Americans and pushing off $100 billion in potentially damaging spending cuts for two months. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature, ending the threat of potentially recession-inducing spending cuts and tax hikes before financial markets opened for the first day of trading in the new year. House Republicans allowed the bill to come up for a vote without any poison-pill spending-cut amendments — a strategy proposed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other conservatives. Most Senate Republicans backed the compromise, but a majority of House Republicans voted "no," as many were angered that the compromise lets income tax rates rise on wages and investment profits for households making more than $450,000 a year — the first tax hike passed with broad GOP support in two decades. [Washington Post]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.