Washington (CNN) – A day after an election that both parties agreed was a mandate to find compromise and avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders also continued to sharply disagree over the key issue of whether top tax rates should be raised to help resolve the looming crisis.
Republicans said higher rates would damage the economy, while Democrats said it was the only equitable way to tackle the debt.
FULL STORYWashington (CNN) - After months of difficult talks, bipartisan House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative deal on a giant transportation funding bill Wednesday, multiple sources tell CNN. A formal announcement is expected late Wednesday night after the last details are hammered out and the final language is drafted, they said.
Congressional leaders said they hoped to attach the highway bill to a measure extending a rate cut on some student loans and legislation reauthorizing national flood insurance and pass them as one bill out of the House and Senate by Friday. Doing so would let Congress beat looming deadlines when these measures expire and also would allow lawmakers to escape town for their Fourth of July recess.
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(CNN) - The top Senate leaders from each party Tuesday indicated they had reached an agreement to extend a rate cut on student loans but were waiting to hear whether House Republicans would accept the deal.
House GOP leaders are expected to discuss the issue with their members at a meeting Wednesday morning.
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(CNN) - Senate negotiators were closing in on an agreement Friday to extend for one year lower interests rates on some student loans, Senate aides from both parties told CNN.
The aides predicted a deal would be reached and the legislation approved before the July 1 deadline when Stafford loans are set to double from 3.4% to 6.8%.
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Washington (CNN) – On Capitol Hill, the beginning of this year will look a lot like the end of last year.
The fight over extending a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits picks back up Tuesday as Congress returns to work after its winter break.
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Washington (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dismissed a recent GOP deficit reduction plan Thursday, saying it isn't a serious attempt at compromise despite the tax increases it includes.
Asked if he was encouraged by negotiations among members of the congressional "super committee" that is trying to forge a debt-reduction agreement, the Nevada Democrat curtly told CNN: "With that phony deal the Republicans offered? No."
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Washington (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Wednesday he would ask the Senate to approve quickly a $6 billion emergency spending bill to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency's cash-strapped disaster relief fund.
The measure would then have to be voted on in the House- where Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, has insisted any federal funding to deal with the recent spate of natural disasters be offset with cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
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Washington (CNN) - A Democratic official involved in the effort to secure the votes in the House and Senate for the debt deal says there is more concern about the vote tally in the House than the Senate, where it looks like it will get the 60 votes needed without much drama.
In the House, Democrats who favor the deal are concerned about a very close vote – maybe a squeaker.
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(CNN)–The burst of enthusiasm Tuesday for the "Gang of Six" debt reduction plan as a possible way out of the debt ceiling crisis appeared to fade Wednesday as Democratic and Republican lawmakers studied and found fault with the details of the proposal.
Most notably, both sides highlighted well-worn party-line divisions: conservatives complained the plan would raise taxes while liberals warned it would cut entitlement benefits.
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Washington (CNN)– One week before a potential government shutdown House Republican leaders stepped up pressure on Senate Democrats by moving ahead with their proposal that would keep the government running for two more weeks while cutting $4 billion.
"If they walk away from this offer they are actively engineering a government shutdown, " House Deputy Whip Peter Roskam told reporters in a conference call Friday.
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