GM recalls 145,628 mid-sized pickups for hood latch issue






(Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Thursday it is recalling 145,628 mid-sized pickup trucks globally as the hood could open unexpectedly due to a possible missing latch.


Of the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups affected by the recall, 118,800 are in the United States, 15,264 are in Canada, 7,492 are in Mexico and the rest are exports, GM said.






GM is recalling the model year 2010 to 2012 trucks because the hood may be missing a secondary hood latch, so if the primary latch is not engaged the hood could open and block the driver’s view and increase the risk of a crash, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.


There are no reports of crashes or injuries related to the issue, and there are four known cases of the secondary hood latch being missing, GM said.


GM said it will notify owners and instruct them to inspect their trucks for the presence of a secondary hood latch or take the truck to a dealer for inspection. If the secondary latch is missing, a new hood will be installed, the company said.


Dealers were notified of the issue on December 18 and GM expects to begin mailing letters to owners on January 17, according to NHTSA.


(Reporting By Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)


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Apple may have sold up to 4 million iPhones to businesses in Q4






As we’ve mentioned countless times, it’s a good thing that RIM (RIMM) will release BlackBerry 10 soon, because otherwise Apple (AAPL) and Android will continue to wreck its market share among enterprise users. Benzinga reports that Trip Chowdhry, a managing director at Global Equities Research, has put out a research note estimating that Apple sold between 3 million and 4 million iPhones to businesses over the past quarter, some of whom have switched over from BlackBerry.


[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]






“This figure emerges from a combination of new purchase of iPhones and users switching to iPhones from Blackberry,” Chowdhry writes. “After the two-year contract expiration on Apple iPhone[s], [the] majority of the enterprises have replaced their employees’ current phones with the new iPhone 5.”


[More from BGR: Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013]


As for reasons why more companies are switching to the iPhone, Chowdhry says that salespeople for key enterprise apps such as Salesforce, Workday and VMware are increasingly “demonstrating their enterprise offering on iPhones, which is also acting as a trigger for enterprises to purchase iPhones for their employees.” Chowdhry also thinks that the advent of mobile device management software has boosted the iPhone’s security capabilities and has made it less risky for companies to adopt.


This article was originally published by BGR


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‘Lincoln,’ ‘Les Miz,’ ‘Argo’ earn producers honors






LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Civil War saga “Lincoln,” the musical “Les Miserables” and the Osama bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” are among the nominees announced Wednesday for the top honor from the Producers Guild of America.


Other best-picture contenders are the Iran hostage-crisis thriller “Argo”; the low-budget critical favorite “Beasts of the Southern Wild”; the slave-turned-bounty-hunter saga “Django Unchained”; the shipwreck story “Life of Pi”; the first-love tale “Moonrise Kingdom“; the lost-souls romance “Silver Linings Playbook”; and the James Bond adventure “Skyfall.”






Walt Disney dominated the guild’s animation category with three of the five nominees: “Brave,” ”Frankenweenie” and “Wreck-It Ralph.” The other nominees are Focus Features’ “ParaNorman” and Paramount’s “Rise of the Guardians.”


Along with honors from other Hollywood professional groups such as actors, directors and writers guilds, the producer prizes help sort out contenders for the Academy Awards. Those nominations come out Jan. 10.


The guild, an association of Hollywood producers, hands out its 24th annual prizes Jan. 26. The big winner often goes on to claim the best-picture honor at the Oscars, which follow on Feb. 24.


Previously announced nominees by the Producers Guild for best documentary are “A People Uncounted,” ”The Gatekeepers,” ”The Island President,” ”The Other Dream Team” and “Searching for Sugar Man.”


Other nominees:


— TV drama series: “Breaking Bad,” ”Downton Abbey,” ”Game of Thrones,” ”Homeland,” ”Mad Men.”


— TV comedy series: “30 Rock,” ”The Big Bang Theory,” ”Curb Your Enthusiasm,” ”Louie,” ”Modern Family.”


— Long-form television: “American Horror Story,” ”The Dust Bowl,” ”Game Change,” ”Hatfields & McCoys,” ”Sherlock.”


— Non-fiction television: “American Masters,” ”Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” ”Deadliest Catch,” ”Inside the Actors Studio,” ”Shark Tank.”


— Live entertainment and talk television: “The Colbert Report,” ”Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ”Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” ”Real Time with Bill Maher,” ”Saturday Night Live.”


— Competition television: “The Amazing Race,” ”Dancing with the Stars,” ”Project Runway,” ”Top Chef,” ”The Voice.”


— Sports program: “24/7,” ”Catching Hell,” ”The Fight with Jim Lampley,” ”On Freddie Roach,” ”Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”


— Children’s program: “Good Luck Charlie,” ”iCarly,” ”Phineas and Ferb,” ”Sesame Street,” ”The Weight of the Nation for Kids: The Great Cafeteria Takeover.”


___


Online:


http://www.producersguild.org


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Analysis: Republicans start new Congress bruised and divided






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the wake of bruising fights in their own ranks over the “fiscal cliff” and aid for victims of superstorm Sandy – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives open a new Congress on Thursday more divided than ever.


While their leader, Speaker John Boehner, seems in no danger of losing his position because of the divisions, his ability to speak for his membership in the House appears greatly diminished.






That could not come at a worse time for Republicans as they prepare for their next attempt to get more spending cuts out of President Barack Obama. They will try to use the debt ceiling – and Obama’s request to raise it – as leverage, as they did in 2011.


But if the final days of this Congress were indicative of things to come, Republicans will have a rough time effectively using their majority in the House against Obama, who even Republicans acknowledge is at the top of his game following the Democrat’s re-election in November.


The fiscal cliff battle to avert steep tax hikes and spending cuts that were due to kick in at the start of this year proved gut-wrenching for Republicans.


Obama’s demand for a tax hike on the rich challenged a core principle that has guided Republicans for decades: No new taxes. Ever.


Yet, late on New Year’s night, 85 Republicans in the House did just that, voting to raise income taxes on household income of more than $ 450,000 a year.


Some of the Republican Party’s biggest stars were among the 85 – including Boehner and Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate, who is seen as a conservative anchor.


But 151 House Republicans stood in defiance, leaving Boehner in the unenviable position of having to rely on opposition Democrats to pass major legislation.


Earlier in the fiscal cliff fight, Boehner suffered a humiliating defeat when his “Plan B” solution – which would have limited the tax hikes to income of $ 1 million a year or more, got so little support he had to cancel the vote.


No sooner had the fiscal cliff battle ended than Boehner found himself in trouble with other Republicans over aid for victims of Sandy, the second costliest storm in U.S. history, which smashed New York and New Jersey coastal communities in late October.


Legislation providing disaster relief to New York, New Jersey and other East Coast states was delayed. A House Republican aide said that given Republicans’ frustration with the fiscal cliff bill and its lack of significant spending cuts, “it was not a good time to immediately vote on $ 60 billion in new spending.”


“I don’t enjoy saying this. I consider myself a personal friend of John Boehner’s,” said Republican Representative Peter King of New York. “It pains me to say this, but the fact is that the dismissive attitude that was shown … toward New York, New Jersey and Connecticut typifies, I believe, a strain in the Republican Party.”


Earlier, King had condemned House inaction on Sandy as a “knife in the back.”


Republican Representative Michael Grimm, also of New York, said of Boehner’s refusal to bring the disaster bill to a vote: “There was a betrayal. There was an arrogant judgment that is going to cost I think the trust of the American people.”


Ironically, Grimm first won his seat in Congress in 2010 with the help of conservative Tea Party activists who sometimes show displeasure with disaster aid spending.


By midday on Wednesday, Boehner had changed course, promising a House vote by week’s end on a $ 9 billion down payment in storm assistance, with a second bill providing $ 51 billion to be voted on January 15.


TEA PARTY EFFECT


Paul Light, a New York University professor and a specialist on Congress, said the vote on the fiscal cliff bill could mark the start of a “major realignment” in the run-up to the 2014 congressional elections and the 2016 presidential race.


Republicans who voted for the legislation “are going to have to find a home. They’re not going to find it with the Tea Party,” Light said.


He said that Republicans who were uncomfortable with the Tea Party could begin aligning themselves more closely with a dwindling band of centrist Democrats.


Congressional Republicans, especially in the House, have been buffeted for two years by the Tea Party, which helped them win control of the House in 2010.


Boehner had to navigate Tea Party demands throughout the 2011 fight over raising U.S. borrowing authority or risking a historic government default.


In rapid succession, Tea Party-fueled battles were waged over infrastructure investments, farm subsidies, payroll tax cuts and the fiscal cliff.


At the core of the disputes was whether the government should be made smaller, forcing Boehner to balance that demand with the need to govern and keep the federal government operating in an orderly way.


For all the heartache over the past several weeks as Republicans fought with one another over whether to let taxes on the rich go up, many see better days ahead.


“By and large, people are probably happy to have it behind them. This was obviously the worst part of the fiscal debate,” said one House Republican staffer, referring to the tax hikes.


The staffer added, “Republicans get to point out that we still have a $ 1 trillion deficit and ask Democrats what kind of spending cuts, entitlement reforms they are willing to do to fix it.”


Republicans feel that will be an easier lift for them – one that they can sell to the American public as they move on to the fight over the debt ceiling.


(Editing by Fred Barbash and Peter Cooney)


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Exclusive: McConnell defends 'imperfect' fiscal cliff deal


Editor's note: This op/ed is by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.


The first day of a new Congress always represents a fresh start. This year, it also presents a perfect opportunity to tackle the single-greatest challenge facing our nation: reining in the out-of-control federal spending that threatens to permanently alter our economy and dim the prospects and opportunities of future generations of Americans.


Earlier this week, I helped negotiate an imperfect solution aimed at avoiding the so-called “fiscal cliff.” If I had my way taxes would not have gone up on anyone, but the unavoidable fact was this if we had sat back and done nothing taxes would have gone up dramatically on every single American, and I simply couldn’t allow that to happen.


By acting, we’ve shielded more than 99% of taxpayers from a massive tax hike that President Obama was all-too willing to impose. American families and small businesses that would have seen painfully smaller paychecks and profits this month have been spared. Retirement accounts for seniors won’t be whittled down by a dramatic increase in taxes on investment income. And many who’ve spent a lifetime paying taxes on income and savings won’t be slammed with a dramatically higher tax on estates.


Was it a great deal? No. As I said, taxes shouldn’t be going up at all. Just as importantly, the transcendent issue of our time, the spiraling debt, remains completely unaddressed. Yet now that the President has gotten his long-sought tax hike on the “rich,” we can finally turn squarely toward the real problem, which is spending.


Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the “rich” isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over. Now the conversation turns to cutting spending on the government programs that are the real source of the nation’s fiscal imbalance. And the upcoming debate on the debt limit is the perfect time to have that discussion.


We simply cannot increase the nation’s borrowing limit without committing to long overdue reforms to spending programs that are the very cause of our debt.


The only way to achieve the balance the President claims to want is by cutting spending. As he himself has admitted, no amount of tax hikes or revenue could possibly keep up with the amount of money Washington is projected to spend in the coming years. At some point, high taxes become such a drag on the economy that the revenue stalls.


While most Washington Democrats may want to deny it, the truth is, the only thing we can do to solve the nation’s fiscal problem is to tackle government spending head on — and particularly, spending on health care programs, which appear to take off like a fighter jet on every chart available that details current trends in federal spending.


The President may not want to have a fight about government spending over the next few months, but it’s the fight he is going to have, because it’s a debate the country needs. For the sake of our future, the President must show up to this debate early and convince his party to do something that neither he nor they have been willing to do until now. Over the next two months they need to deliver the same kind of bipartisan resolution to the spending problem we have now achieved on revenue — before the 11th hour.


When it comes to spending, the time has come to rise above the special interest groups that dominate the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in Washington and act, without drama or delay. The President likes to say that most Americans support tax hikes on the rich. What he conveniently leaves out is that even more Americans support cuts. That’s the debate the American people really want. It’s a debate Republicans are ready to have. And it’s the debate that starts today, whether the President wants it or not.



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France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year’s Eve






PARIS (AP) — A New Year’s Eve tradition for some in France of torching empty, parked cars has continued.


Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that 1,193 vehicles were burned overnight around the country, where the stunt began in the 1990s.






There was no way to compare this figure to recent ones because the conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy stopped making the numbers public while he was in office. But the rate of burned cars was apparently steady. On Dec. 31, 2009, 1,147 vehicles were burned.


For some, the decision of France’s current Socialist government to resume making public figures of New Year’s Eve’s torched cars is unwise.


Bruno Beschizza, a security chief for Sarkozy’s UMP party, said on iTele TV that publishing the numbers motivates youths to commit such crimes.


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7 Apps for Creepers






1. Sneakypix


Ever been waiting on the train platform, minding your business, only to glance to your left and find yourself face-to-face with a grown-up nose picker? In this day and age, our first inclination is to snap a discreet photo. Sneakypix makes it appear as if you’re on a phone call, but instead, aim your camera lens at the nasal aficionado and the app will fire off a series of stealth photos or video. Price: $ 0.99


Click here to view this gallery.






[More from Mashable: Mom Gives Son a Christmas iPhone — With Strings Attached]


Do you have a smartphone? Then chances are you’ve been a creeper.


Now don’t get all defensive, just yet. How many times have you snapped a photo of some hipster’s pink beard on the subway? How often do you send racy pictures to your husband during his business trips? How many times have you wondered whether your teenager was smoking pot on the Williamsburg Bridge or visiting his grandma in Queens?


[More from Mashable: 9 Apps to Fast-Track Your New Years’ Resolutions]


While we’re not advocating sinister, paranoid behavior (take a hike, stalkers), sometimes it’s helpful and downright fun to act like James Bond. And it turns out, you don’t need all the slick gadgets to do it.


These seven iPhone and Android apps will get you started, secret agent-style.


But seriously, for the love of Carl, don’t do anything illegal. Mmm-kay?


Image courtesy of iStockphoto, klosfoto


This story originally published on Mashable here.


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Heartwarming moments defy chill at Rose Parade






PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A couple who became husband and wife on the “Love Float,” a surprise reunion between a returning soldier and his little boy, and a grand marshal famed globally for her chimpanzee research were among the highlights of the 124th Rose Parade on Tuesday.


The parade’s spectacular 42 floral floats brightened an otherwise cloudy New Year’s morning and boosted the spirits of a chilled crowd estimated at some 700,000 spectators lining the 5-mile route.






“The only way that you’re going to experience the Rose Parade is to be here in person,” said Los Angeles resident Gineen Alcantara-Nakama, who camped out Monday night to save front row sidewalk spots.


“Growing up, I watched it on television, but it’s not the same — the smell, the atmosphere, smelling the flowers as they come down the street. And the energy. It’s like being with family all night long.”


Spectators rose to a standing ovation when Army Sgt. First Class Eric Pazz, who was riding on the Natural Balance Pet Foods float along with other service members, got off the float and walked over to his surprised wife Miriam and 4-year-old son Eric Jr., who came running out of the stands into the arms of his 32-year-old father.


Miriam Pazz had been told she had won a contest to attend the parade and did not know her husband, who is deployed in Afghanistan, would be there. A native of Clio, Mich., Pazz is a highly decorated soldier who has also served in Iraq. The family, who currently lives in Germany, climbed aboard the float for the rest of the route.


Cheers also went up for a Chesapeake, Va., couple who tied the knot aboard Farmers Insurance “Love Float.”


Gerald Sapienza and Nicole Angelillo were high school classmates who reconnected 10 years later and won the parade wedding over three other couples in a nationwide contest. They received a trip to Pasadena, a wedding gown, tuxedo, rings, marriage license fees, Rose Bowl game tickets and hair and makeup for the bride.


The parade’s theme this year was “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” named in honor of the Dr. Seuss book. It served as a fitting slogan for grand marshal British primatologist Jane Goodall, who has spent much of her life in Tanzania studying chimpanzees.


Goodall chose conservation as her message for the parade


“My dream for this New Year’s Day is for everyone to think of the places we can all go if we work together to make our world a better place,” said Goodall, 78.


“Every journey starts with a step and I am pleased to see the Tournament of Roses continue to take steps toward not only celebrating beauty and imagination, but also a cleaner environment.”


This year’s parade also saw the first-ever float entered by the Defense Department.


The $ 247,000 military float was a replica of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington to commemorate the veterans from that conflict.


The float that scooped up the parade’s grand “Sweepstakes” prize for the most beautiful floral presentation and design was “Dreaming in Paradise” by fruit and vegetable producer Dole.


According to parade rules, every inch of the floats must be covered with flowers or plant material, most of it applied by volunteers in the last weeks of December.


Besides floats, the parade also featured 23 marching bands and 21 equestrian units from around the world.


Banda El Salvador, a 200-plus member marching band and folkloric dance troupe, played sassy Latin rhythms and paid homage to their Central American country by dressing in the national colors of blue and white and shouting “Arriba El Salvador!”


The Aguiluchos band from Puebla, Mexico, earned cheers for their fancy footwork and vaquero rope tricks. Colorful dancers from Costa Rica and South Korea were other crowd pleasers.


Die-hard parade fans staked out their spots overnight or in pre-dawn hours with folding chairs, hammocks and portable barbeque grills despite frosty temperatures.


Emergency personnel received a number of cold-weather exposure calls, police department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian told City News Service.


As of 8 a.m. Tuesday, police had made a total of 22 arrests along the parade route since 6 p.m. Monday, said police Lt. Rick Aversan. All but one arrest were for suspected public intoxication. The other was for suspected possession of burglary tools that could have been used to break into cars, police said.


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“Fiscal cliff” crisis heads to resolution in Congress






WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A months-long battle over the U.S. “fiscal cliff” headed to a close on Tuesday as the House of Representatives moved toward final approval of a bipartisan deal meant to prevent Washington from pushing the world’s biggest economy into recession.


The Republican-controlled House was expected to back a tax hike on the top U.S. earners shortly before midnight on Tuesday, ending weeks of high-stakes budget brinkmanship that threatened to spook consumers and throw financial markets into turmoil.






Approval of the bill would be a victory for President Barack Obama, who campaigned for re-election last November on a promise to raise taxes on the wealthiest but faced stiff opposition from congressional Republicans.


Republicans had earlier considered adding hundreds of billions of dollars in spending cuts after the bill had already passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support. That would have triggered further partisan warfare and pushed the crisis well past a self-imposed January 1 deadline.


But party leaders abandoned the effort after determining they lacked the votes.


“We’ve gone as far as we can go and I think people are ready to bring it to a conclusion,” Republican Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia said. “We fought the fight.”


Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, a Republican, predicted the House would back the Senate bill, which also postpones for two months $ 109 billion in spending cuts on military and domestic programs set for 2013.


The bill easily cleared a procedural hurdle by a bipartisan vote of 408 to 10.


Lawmakers have struggled to find a way to head off across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that began to take effect at midnight, a legacy of earlier failed budget deals that is known as the fiscal cliff.


Strictly speaking, the United States went over the cliff in the first minutes of the New Year because Congress failed to produce legislation to halt $ 600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled for this year.


TAX HIKES FOR WEALTHIEST


While many Republicans were uneasy with the tax hikes and wanted more spending cuts in the bill, they seemed to realize that the fiscal cliff would begin to damage the economy once financial markets and federal government offices returned to work on Wednesday. Opinion polls show the public would blame Republicans if a deal were to fall apart.


House Republicans had earlier considered adding $ 330 billion in spending cuts over 10 years to the Senate bill, which raises taxes on the wealthiest U.S. households by $ 620 billion over the same period.


But Senate Democrats refused to consider any changes to their bill, which passed 89 to 8 in a rare display of unity early Tuesday.


That measure, which passed the Senate at around 2 a.m., would raise income taxes on families earning more than $ 450,000 per year and limit the amount of deductions they can take to lower their tax bill.


Low temporary rates that have been in place for the past decade would be made permanent for less-affluent taxpayers, along with a range of targeted tax breaks put in place to fight the 2009 economic downturn.


However, workers would see up to $ 2,000 more taken out of their paychecks annually with the expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut.


The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the Senate bill would increase budget deficits by nearly $ 4 trillion over the coming 10 years, compared to the budget savings that would occur if the extreme measures of the cliff were to kick in.


But the bill would actually save $ 650 billion during that time period when measured against the tax and spending policies that were in effect on Monday, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent group that has pushed for more aggressive deficit savings.


(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai, Thomas Ferraro and David Lawder; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)


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House passes fiscal cliff deal


House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, head into a closed-door …Updated 11:38 pm ET


The House of Representatives late Tuesday easily approved emergency bipartisan legislation sparing all but a sliver of America’s richest from sharp income tax hikes -- while setting up another “fiscal cliff” confrontation in a matter of weeks.


Lawmakers voted 257-167 to send the compromise to President Barack Obama to sign into law. Eighty-five Republicans and 172 Democrats backed the bill, which had sailed through the Senate by a lopsided 89-8 margin shortly after 2 a.m. Opposition comprised 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.


Republican House Speaker John Boehner voted in favor of the deal, as did House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, his party's failed vice presidential candidate. But Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy voted against it.


Obama, speaking from the White House briefing room shortly after the vote, praised lawmakers for coming together to avert a tax increase that “could have sent the economy back into a recession.”


“A central premise of my campaign for president was the change the tax code that was too skewed toward the wealthy at the expense of working, middle-class Americans. Tonight, we’ve done that,” the president said.


But he signaled that the legislation was “just one step in the broader effort” of getting the nation’s finances in order while boosting growth and job creation.


“The deficit is still too high,” he said, warning Republicans that he would stick with his demands for a “balanced” approach blending spending cuts with revenue increases, notably from the rich and wealthy corporations.


Republicans vowed a renewed focus on cutting government outlays.


“Now the focus turns to spending,” Boehner said, vowing his party would “hold the president accountable for the balanced approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt.”



As debate began, Republican House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp heralded “a legacy vote” that amounted to a victory for his party because Democrats agreed to make permanent the tax cuts his party enacted in 2001 and 2003. Camp called the bill a step towards reforming the country’s “nightmare” tax code and described it as the largest tax cut in history.


Representative Sander Levin, the top Democrat on Camp’s committee, claimed victory because the vote shattered “the iron barrier” Republicans maintained for 20 years against raising taxes.


It fell to Democratic Representative Charlie Rangel to admit “this is no profile in courage for me to be voting for this bill” because “we created this monster.”


The polarized House approved the measure, unchanged, after House Republican leaders beat back a day-long insurrection within their ranks fueled by conservative anger at the bill’s lack of spending cuts. A final vote was expected late Tuesday evening.


“They’re crazy, but they’re not that batshit crazy,” Democratic Representative Alcee Hastings told reporters as the Republican plan came into focus.


Hastings’s blunt assessment came after a day in which Republican leaders at times seemed to be as much political arsonists as firefighters in the face of rank-and-file GOP anger at the bill.


The House seemed on track to torch the legislation, a hard-fought bipartisan bill crafted by Vice President Joe Biden and  McConnell that sailed through the Senate by a lopsided 89-8 margin in a vote shortly after 2 a.m.


The compromise bill averts the sharpest tax increase in American history. But it hikes rates on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for households, while exemptions and deductions the wealthiest Americans use to reduce their tax bill face new limits. The accord also raises the taxes paid on large inheritances from 35% to 40% for estates over $5 million. And it extends by one year unemployment benefits for some two million Americans. It also prevents cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients and spares tens of millions of Americans who otherwise would have been hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax. And it extends some stimulus-era tax breaks championed by progressives.


The middle class will still see its taxes go up: The final deal did not include an extension of the payroll tax holiday. A report released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office Tuesday complicated matters further. It said that the Senate-passed compromise would add nearly $4 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years.


Despite the overwhelming Senate vote, the accord landed with a thud in the House, where Cantor surprised lawmakers by coming out flatly against the deal during a morning closed-door meeting of House Republicans. Cantor’s announcement fueled conservative anger at the absence of spending cuts in a measure that had originally been considered a likely vehicle for at least some deficit-reduction. The results fed fears that the legislation was doomed.


Republican leadership aides played down the drama by insisting that “the lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today’s meeting.”


After grappling with the insurrection all day, Republican leaders gave their fractious caucus a choice during an emergency 5:15 p.m. meeting: Try to amend it or go for a straight up-or-down vote on the original deal.


Cantor and  Boehner “cautioned members about the risk in such a strategy,” according to a GOP leadership aide.


House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, emerging from the gathering, bluntly told reporters “it’s pretty obvious” that amending the legislation and sending it back to the Senate would kill it. Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber had signaled that lawmakers there would not take up a modified version of what was already a difficult deal.


The resulting pressure on GOP leaders was immense: Absent action to avert the fiscal cliff, Americans would face hefty across-the-board income-tax hikes, while indiscriminate spending cuts risked devastating domestic and defense programs. Skittish financial markets were watching the dysfunction in Washington carefully amid warnings that going off the so-called cliff could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession.


Defeat would have handed Boehner a fresh embarrassment by blocking a measure he explicitly asked the Senate and White House to negotiate without him but vowed to act on if Republicans and Democrats could reach a deal. Public opinion polls had shown that Republicans would have borne the brunt of the blame for fiscal cliff-related economic pain.


Republicans had also fretted about the message if final passage came on the back of a majority of Democratic votes, a tricky thing for Boehner two days before he faces reelection as speaker. (In the hours before the vote, conservative lawmakers played down the risks of a rebellion against the Ohio lawmaker).


Time ran short for another reason: A new Congress will take office at noon on Thursday, forcing efforts to craft a compromise by the current Congress back to the drawing board.


Efforts to modify the first installment of $1.2 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense programs over 10 years -- the other portion of the “fiscal cliff,” known as sequestration -- had proved a sticking point late in the game. Democrats had sought a year-long freeze but ultimately caved to Republican pressure and signed on to just a two-month delay while broader deficit-reduction talks continue.


That would put the next major battle over spending cuts right around the time that the White House and its Republican foes are battling it out over whether to raise the country's debt limit.


Republicans have vowed to push for more spending cuts, equivalent to the amount of new borrowing. Obama has vowed not to negotiate as he did in 2011, when a bruising fight threatened the first-ever default on America's obligations and resulted in the first-ever downgrade of the country's credit rating.


“I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws that they passed,” he warned Tuesday. “The consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic.”


The president then left for Hawaii to rejoin his family on vacation.


As House Republicans raged at the bill, key House Democrats emerging from a closed-door meeting with Biden expressed support for the compromise and pressed Boehner for a vote on the legislation as written.


“Our Speaker has said when the Senate acts, we will have a vote in the House. That is what he said, that is what we expect, that is what the American people deserve…a straight up-or-down vote,” Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters.


Conservative activist organizations like the anti-tax Club for Growth warned lawmakers to oppose the compromise. The Club charged in a message to Congress that “this bill raises taxes immediately with the promise of cutting spending later.”


President Barack Obama had previously declared that “this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay.”


There were signs that the 2016 presidential race shaped the outcome in the Senate. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, widely thought to have his eye on his party’s nomination, voted no. Republican Senator Rand Paul, who could take up the libertarian mantle of his father Ron Paul, did as well.


In a sign of deep GOP unease over the legislation, Republican leaders Boehner, Cantor, and McCarthy did not speak during the debate. Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and James Clyburn all did.


Biden's visit -- his second to Congressional Democrats in two days -- aimed to soothe concerns about the bill and about the coming battles on deficit reduction.


“This is a simple case of trying to Make sure that the perfect does not become the enemy of the good,” said Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the chamber’s most steadfast liberals. “Nobody’s going to like everything about it.”


Asked whether House progressives, who had hoped for a lower income threshold, would back the bill, Cummings said he could not predict but stressed: “I am one of the most progressive members, and I will vote for it.”



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