Boehner says deal near on highways, student loan

WASHINGTON — Legislation to negate a fiscal cliff of across-the-board tax increases and sweeping spending cuts to the Pentagon and other government agencies is headed to the GOP-dominated House after bipartisan, middle-of-the-night approval in the Senate capped a New Year’s Eve drama unlike any other in the annals of Congress. The measure cleared the Senate on an 89-8 vote early Tuesday, hours after Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sealed a deal.

With the start of the 113th Congress today, new members are poised to re-elect John Boehner as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

The 113th Congress convened for the first time Thursday, and re-elected John Boehner as House Speaker, putting to rest rumors that the Ohio Republican's position was in jeopardy. 

The trade world was a'twitter today with the exciting news that Senate Democrats and Republicans have agreed on a path forward for consideration of the Trade Adjustment Assistance expansion that expired in February of this year and, due to White House demands, has prevented congressional consideration of pending US FTAs with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.  Reuters reports the basics:

House Speaker John Boehner's promise on Wednesday to balance the federal budget "over the next 10 years" was aimed at convincing Tea Party conservatives in Congress to hold their fire over a bill to temporarily raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

Boehner Floats Fiscal Cliff "Plan B" Both house speaker John Boehner and president Obama have given ground in the "fiscal cliff" drama. The sides are still fall apart but concessions now are steady. The fact there is ongoing movement makes a deal possible. The obvious compromise target of the tax hikes on the wealthy is $500,000. Will we get there? Can Boehner get enough in return on entitlement cutbacks? On that score the president has barely budged, but the stock market sure seems to think a deal will be reached.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met for a third time at the White House to discuss averting spending cuts and tax increases before a year-end deadline. Boehner and Obama met for almost an hour Thursday, with no public announcement of progress. In January, more than US$600-billion in spending cuts and tax increases, the so-called fiscal cliff, are scheduled to begin. Lines of communication remain open