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"As the country was still ringing in the New Year Tuesday morning, the Senate was doing some last-minute deal-making on Capitol Hill. Hours later, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a piece of legislation over to the House of Representatives that would preserve Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans making less than $400,000 per year (and couples earning less than $450,000 per year), postpone budget cut discussions for two months and keep benefits flowing to the two million unemployed workers nationwide. The measure would also increase tax rates on the nation&amp;#039;s richest households (those that pull in more than $450,000 a year), per the demand of President Obama, marking the first time in two decades that a broad tax increase has been approved with GOP support. Several hours and many exhaustive negotiations later, the House approved the bipartisan bill in a 257-167 vote late last night. Among those who favored the bill were 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans, while 16 Democrats and 151 Republicans opposed it. Discussions of a Republican amendment that would address spending cuts were pitched by House Speaker John Boehner shortly before the bill passed, but the potential package found its way to the written bill by the end of the evening. Had the House not acted on the Senate&amp;#039;s proposal, the Bush-era tax cuts would have expired, $110 billion in automatic cuts to domestic and military spending would&amp;#039;ve been made and the combined effect could have possibly tipped the country back into a recession, driving unemployment rates back over 9%.  The deal doesn&amp;#039;t entirely solve the problem of the fiscal cliff, as long-term debt woes have yet to be discussed, but nonetheless world markets rose after the news. Meanwhile, the president delivered a statement from the White House, in which he addressed intentions to sign the legislation, before departing on Air Force One to resume his Hawaiian vacation with his family. The compromise is currently on its way to the president for his signature, but it remains unclear exactly when the bill will officially become a law. What do you think of the Congressional compromise? Comment below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/news/a47559/nation-averts-feared-fiscal-cliff-with-congressional-compromise/>