Congress, Fiscal Cliff | featured news

Investors fearing a stock market plunge if the U.S. tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week may want to relax.

The markets are already fretting over the "fiscal cliff": On Thursday, the Dow seemed to surge and fall with every bit of micro-news about a deal or lack thereof, as Joe Weisenthal documented.

Congressional leaders prepared for a meeting at the White House on Friday as top aides said lawmakers were pursuing a proposal that would prevent tax increases on income of $400,000 or below.

This is the second of three posts looking at how the U.S. economy will do in 2013. Wednesday's installment examined the positive fundamentals that should drive a good year. Today's considers the political risks that could undermine those fundamentals. Friday's will look at international risks to the outlook.

Lawmakers are engaged in a playground game of 'who goes first,' daring each political party to let the year end without resolving a Jan. 1 confluence of higher taxes and deep spending cuts that could rattle a recovering, but-still-fragile economy.

Lawmakers say Congress probably could resolve the so-called "fiscal cliff" if Republican leaders let Democrats provide most of the votes....

With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day.

Efforts to avoid the looming U.S. "fiscal cliff" were thrown into disarray on Friday with finger-pointing lawmakers fleeing Washington for Christmas vacations even as the year-end deadline for action edged ever closer.

The GOP-controlled House is moving ahead Thursday on a bill that would raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year, sparing most workers from a tax hike but leaving in place painful budget cuts to the military and domestic agencies as "fiscal cliff" talks appear stalled.

U.S. President Barack Obama and John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, met at the White House on Monday to try to reach a budget deal that would head off steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the economy into recession next year.