MCCONNELL CALLS OUT OBAMA'S NEGOTIATION CHARADE

The office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) responded to reports today that President Barack Obama called him and other congressional leaders to receive updates about negotiations to avoid the Jan. 1 "fiscal cliff" by noting that it was the "first time McConnell has heard from any Democrat, including the President, on this since Thanksgiving."

The President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made a show of returning to Washington this week, as if to continue negotiations--when their open opposition to Speaker of the House John Boehner's "Plan B" last week helped doom that plan to defeat in the Republican caucus. House members were reluctant to vote for "Plan B" to begin with, since it would have raised some tax rates; the certainty that it would fail in the Senate made them even less enthusiastic.
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