Free Republic

When the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a Senate bill to avoid the fiscal cliff around 10:45 PM on Tuesday, it violated its pledge to allow three days for the public to read the legislation, a promise House Republicans made to voters before the 2010 elections. … In its Pledge to America document, House Republicans promised: “We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives. No more hiding legislative language from the minority...

The U.S. Senate voted 89-8 to approve legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff despite having only 3 minutes to read the 154-page bill and budget score. Multiple Senate sources have confirmed to CNSNews.com that senators received the bill at approximately 1:36 AM on Jan. 1, 2013—a mere three minutes before they voted to approve it at 1:39 AM. …

After a long day of fiscal cliff chaos, the House will finally hold a vote tonight on the fiscal cliff bill passed by the Senate early Tuesday. The decision to hold an up-down vote virtually guarantees passage of the bill, which would extend the Bush tax hikes for households earning under $450,000. that the bill will pass. For most of the day, House Republicans have said that they could not support the bill without spending cuts, but by Tuesday night it was clear that GOP leaders could not come up with the votes to pass an amendment to add those...

The deal to avoid the fiscal cliff is done as the House passed the Senate version in a late night session on Tuesday. The vote was 257-167. The fact that only 85 Republicans (out of 241) supported the deal calls into question Speaker Boehner's leadership in the next congress, although it is doubtful anyone has the fortitude - or the stature - to challenge him. All but 20 Democrats voted for the bill. Gone is the payroll tax holiday, which means 77% of American households will experience a tax increase in the new year. Taxes on dividends and capital gains...