National Journal has a great tick tock of the fiscal cliff deliberations.

“This is the story of Plan O – the congressional Republicans’ failed attempt to meet the challenge of Obama’s victory. It begins in September and ends in the fiasco of the Christmas season, when the speaker was repudiated by his own troops and had to pull his last, desperate solution from the House floor, leaving Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to cut the best deal he could with dramatically diminished leverage.”

“In the end, despite all the planning and forethought, Boehner would stand almost helplessly by as the nation plunged off the fiscal cliff, and a bipartisan coalition of Democrats and centrist Republicans voted to give Obama the big tax hikes he demanded on the wealthy. House Republicans saw the worst of all worlds: they failed to save tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, put no new checks on government spending, and showed themselves a fractious and disorganized opposition party, the governance of which in the new Congress will prove to be a serious test.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by Politico, to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) after Reid had publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House.

After exploring the possibility of adding spending cuts to the Senate-passed bill to limit tax hikes caused by the “fiscal cliff,” the House Republican leadership abandoned that strategy and ultimately passed the bill unamended, the New York Times reports.

The final vote was 257 to 167.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) voted against the measure, as did House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) voted in favor.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.

Wonk Wire has a summary of what’s included in the deal.

House Republicans “reacted with anger” to a Senate-passed plan to head off automatic tax increases and spending cuts, “putting the fate of the legislation in doubt just hours after it appeared Congress was nearing a resolution of the fiscal crisis,” the New York Times reports.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) “indicated to his colleagues in a closed-door meeting in the basement of the Capitol that he could not support the legislation in its current form.”

Speaker John Boehner “was mainly listening to the complaints of his rank and file and had not taken a firm position on the legislation… He has said repeatedly that he would allow a vote on the Senate bill, but he has also said he did not want to pass a bill with predominantly Democratic votes.”

Politico: “A carefully-crafted Senate compromise to avert the fiscal cliff could be in jeopardy, as House Republicans seem nearly certain to tweak the legislation and send it back to the Senate because it doesn’t contain sufficient spending cuts…”

“But amending the bill and trying to send it back to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would be a legislative high-wire act of the first order. Boehner and his leadership would have to find a way to get 217 votes for the altered package — and then hope the Senate goes along. Senate sources are warning that the upper chamber will not take up a House-amended bill.”

President Obama’s fiscal cliff deal with Republicans “has touched off a fresh wave of grievance among disappointed liberals who complained that he caved in on taxes and sent a signal that he would ultimately surrender on other priorities as he prepared to open his second term,” the New York Times reports.

“While most Democratic senators went along with the compromise in an early-morning vote on Tuesday, activists, labor leaders and liberal economists issued a harsh barrage against the deal. The president, they said, squandered his election victory by allowing too many wealthy Americans to keep income and estate tax cuts that otherwise would have expired.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leaders tell The Hill they will “reject any House effort to amend a fiscal cliff deal that passed the upper chamber with overwhelming support on New Year’s Day.”

Said one Democratic aide: “We’re done.”

In fact, ABC News reports Senators have already left town.

“We should not take a package put together by a bunch of octogenarians on New Year’s Eve.”

— Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH), quoted by the Washington Post, referring to Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who crafted the fiscal cliff agreement.