Obama pushes for fiscal cliff vote

The White House and Senate leaders continue to press for a deal to stop the so-called fiscal cliff, a mix of tax increases and spending cuts, from automatically kicking in at the turn of the new year. President Obama, after meeting with congressional leaders, told reporters he is "moderately optimistic" that a bipartisan deal can be reached. However, if Republicans and Democrats in Congress fail to agree, Obama says he wants an up-or-down vote in both chambers on a Democratic proposal. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., said after a meeting with the president that he hopes a compromise can be presented to rank-and-file lawmakers by Sunday, little more than 24 hours before the year-end deadline. [Source]

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