Bert Atkinson Jr. | On 01, Jan 2013

So, we may see a fiscal cliff deal after all. According to The Hill, the House Rules Committee sent the Senate-passed fiscal cliff avoidance bill to the floor, and a vote should be happening sometime between 10:30pm and 11pm.

After a day of lengthy internal GOP wrangling over whether to amend the Senate-approved bill, House GOP leaders decided that they did not have enough support to pass an amendment with Republican votes alone.

The move came after a pair of long closed-door Republican conference meetings, and was a signal that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) believes there are enough votes to pass the Senate measure without changes.

Earlier in the day, Republicans said they were considering an attempt to amend the Senate measure, but lawmakers said there was no consensus on what to attach to the bill to garner enough GOP support.

The two choices were: amend the bill with spending cuts — likely killing it for the 112th Congress — or vote to adopt the Senate measure and send it to President Obama for his signature.

The Senate passed the deal with 89 votes earlier today, and now it’s up to the House. This could get tricky, and there will be backlash. Speaker John Boehner is sort of bucking the system and violating a tradition known as the Hastert rule that only allows bills to the floor if a majority of Republicans (120) will vote for it. So why would Republicans not approve of the bill?

[T]he CBO estimates that the bill would reduce revenues over 10 years by $3.64 trillion and increase spending by $332 billion…

That estimate is relative to a benchmark where all the Bush tax cuts expire and the fiscal cliff stays in place. Technically, that’s what would happen if Congress does nothing to avert the cliff.

Basically, the GOP is in the fetal position politically, and they cannot make a good move. Touché, Democrats. If this passes, which it is looking like it will, I guess we will have to push back the realization that we, in fact, have a spending problem. If any of you out there think we don’t have a spending problem, please explain in the comment section below why in the hell we have over $16 trillion in debt.

[Click HERE to see what is likely the strangest thing you will see involving Anderson Cooper]

Check back for updates…

UPDATE:

Passed the House 257-167.