Politico: “Reps. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Justin Amash (R-MI) and Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), all stripped of prized committee assignments earlier this month because of perceived sins against the party, did a three-amigos end zone dance as GOP leaders struggled and failed to get the votes for a tax-cut bill designed to empower Speaker John Boehner in negotiating the so-called fiscal cliff.”

“The whole episode gave Boehner the feel of a substitute teacher who
is accountable for what happens in the classroom but isn’t really in
control of the kids. He’s already used the tools at his disposal to
bring Huelskamp, Amash and Schweikert into line — and that didn’t work.”

Jonathan Chait notes President Obama seems to have realized he’s not going to get a “grand bargain” to deal with the nation’s debt.

“You can see in the Democratic side a persistent good-government
impulse, one that finds the GOP’s inability to even advance its own
interests rationally as a troublesome failure of government for which
they themselves ultimately share responsibility. It’s true that a
smarter, better organized Republican party would be easier to deal with.
But the GOP remains dysfunctional and apparently bent on
self-immolation. The only question for Obama is whether he wants to
allow Republicans to turn this fact to their advantage, or whether he is
willing to disengage and let them burn out on their own rage.”

The Week: Does President Obama know what he wants?

“God only knows.”

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by ABC News, on how Congress will avoid the fiscal cliff.

Now that House Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” for addressing the fiscal cliff “has crashed and burned, the top U.S. Republican appears to have two remaining options — wash his hands of the entire matter or negotiate a compromise with Democrats that could abandon scores of his fellow Republicans,” Reuters reports.

“The Republican rank and file and Democrats may face an equally stark choice: work together for a change, or plunge together off the cliff.”

Washington Post: “Following the latest breakdown in negotiations, Democrats said Boehner
should return to the bargaining table with Obama — or just let House
Democrats and 25 or so Republicans vote for a Senate-approved plan to
extend tax cuts for the middle class. But Republicans said the well has
been so poisoned that restarting bipartisan talks would be more
difficult than ever.”

Wonk Wire: Low expectations for a fiscal cliff deal.

House Republicans “scuttled a vote on a backup plan they had pushed as a way to partially avert steep tax increases and spending cuts next year, sending lawmakers home for Christmas as Washington lurched toward the fiscal cliff,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The sudden turn of events left efforts to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff in disarray with no clear path forward.”

Politico: “After a full day of heavy arm-twisting, House Republican leaders were unable to cobble together enough support from 217 of their 241 members for Boehner’s (R-OH) ‘Plan B’ proposal, even after Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) assured its passage. Democrats vowed not to support the measure.”

New York Times: “The decision was a major setback for the speaker, who was pushing his
so-called Plan B to prevent lower tax rates from expiring on most
Americans. It came after the House had narrowly approved a plan to
suspend planned Pentagon cuts.”

“All they have to do is vote for a tax cut below a certain number, and they are not voting for taxes to go up. If you don’t vote for tax increases, you didn’t vote for a tax increase.”

— Newt Gingrich, in an interview with the Huffington Post, explaining how Republicans can stay true to their anti-tax pledge.

Jonathan Chait: “Everybody knows what happens in January. Both sides ought to be able to anticipate it and make the deal they could make then now. Business types have therefore assumed a December deal would happen. If this was a business deal between two rational people, that’s what would happen.”

“But we are not dealing with rational people here. We are dealing with House Republicans. As Republican Tom Cole gently put it, by way of describing his colleagues’ implacable hatred of taxes, ‘It’s who they are. It’s the air they breathe. It’s what the Republican electorate produces.'”

“If Boehner strikes a deal before January, Republicans will suspect he gave away revenue he could have fought for. But if he refuses, the House Republicans will see for themselves what happens. The revenue will go away on its own, over Boehner’s objections. All Obama has to do is continue to make clear he will not under any circumstances extend any tax cuts on income over $250,000 a year. Then he has nearly all the revenue he needs, and he can offer Republicans a deal they would never walk away from. They might try to get that deal in December, but January remains the best bet.”

The Washington Post reports that Grover Norquist says his group would not consider a vote for Speaker John Boehner’s “Plan B” a violation of the anti-tax pledge many Republican members of Congress have signed — even though it effectively raises taxes on households with an income of more than $1 million.

House Speaker John Boehner unveiled his “Plan B” to avoid the fiscal cliff — legislation that would raise tax rates on those earning more than $1 million but keep rates the same for everyone else — and scheduled a vote for tomorrow.

First Read: “There are three reasons why Plan B — if it’s a serious effort — seems so puzzling. One… the two sides are thisclose in getting a deal done… Two, if we go over the fiscal cliff (and time is running out, folks), Republicans might not realize the extent to which President Obama will own the bully pulpit in January. After all, there’s a certain inaugural address on Jan. 21, as well as the State of the Union. And three, are enough House Republicans really going to cast a tough vote — raising taxes — without getting any spending cuts or resolution on the sequester in return? And are they going to cast a vote for legislation that breaks a longstanding pledge on taxes that has zero chance of becoming law simply to give Boehner leverage? If Boehner and leadership do pull this off and convince their rank-and-file to vote on legislation that is designed just to give Boehner leverage, it would be quite the political feat.”

Rick Klein: “Boehner’s gambit is either a brilliant technique aimed at strengthening
his negotiating position, or a foolhardy scheme that will demonstrate
divisions in his own caucus. He’s putting his members on record (or, at
least, trying to) in favor of tax rates going up for high-income earners
— precisely the kind of vote almost every Republican came to Congress
to try to avoid. If he gets it, he shows his caucus’ resolve in the face
of pressure from the White House. If he doesn’t, Plan A options will be
scrambled, perhaps too late to leave time for Plan C.”

Wonk Wire: Nearing the fiscal cliff end game.

In a press release, BuzzFeed notes House Speaker John Boehner’s office said his “plan B” to extend most tax cuts would “not raise taxes. It is a net tax cut that prevents a $4.6 trillion tax hike on Jan. 1.”

However, taxes would actually stay the same for most people under the proposal, and go up on people earning more than $1 million.

“We’re not close to a deal.”

— Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), in an interview on CNBC, saying he’s surprised about reports suggesting progress has been made in fiscal cliff negotiations.

President Obama delivered to House Speaker John Boehner a new offer on to resolve the pending fiscal crisis, “a deal that would raise revenues by $1.2 trillion over the next decade but keep in place the Bush-era tax rates for any household with earnings below $400,000,” the New York Times reports.

“The offer is close to a plan proposed by the speaker on Friday, and both sides expressed confidence that they were closing in on a major deficit-reduction plan that could be passed well before January… The two sides are now dickering over price, not philosophical differences, and the numbers are very close.”

Wall Street Journal: “After weeks of public sniping, negotiations have intensified in recent days, with both sides making significant concessions. Obstacles still remain, especially the reaction of lawmakers on both extremes, but the movement suggests negotiators could reach a compromise and pass by the end of the year a deal to avert a series of spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in January.”

Politico: “The president’s proposal is not a final offer, but the White House views it as something that should get the two sides close to a deal because they have met Republicans more than halfway on spending and halfway on revenues.”

President Obama and House Speaker Boehner “are discussing a $2 trillion framework on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, that would include roughly a trillion in tax increases and roughly a trillion in savings from entitlement programs,” CNN reports.

“Boehner and the president met in person on Monday, but sources familiar with the talks indicate that the framework under discussion is what Republicans are pushing to get to agreement, but it’s unclear whether the make up of the $2 trillion framework could get support from Democrats.”

Wall Street Journal: “While the White House objected to major parts of the proposal, senior Democrats described it as a tipping point that moves talks away from deadlock. Instead, it cleared the way for both sides to engage in nitty-gritty haggling over exactly where the new income threshold might be set and what should comprise the spending cuts.”

Meanwhile, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll finds 66% said both sides should compromise “on their principles and beliefs on tax increases and spending cuts.”

House Speaker John Boehner “has offered to push any fight over the federal debt limit off for a year, a concession that would deprive Republicans of leverage in the budget battle but is breathing new life into stalled talks over the year-end fiscal cliff,” the Washington Post reports.

“Boehner’s offer signals that he expects a big deal with sufficient savings to meet his demand that any debt limit increase be paired dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts. That would permit him to keep a key vow to his party — and head off a potentially nasty debt-limit fight — at least until the end of next year.”

House Speaker John Boehner has proposed allowing tax rates to rise for the wealthiest Americans if President Obama agrees to major entitlement cuts, Politico reports.

“It is the first time Boehner has offered any boost in marginal tax rates for any income group, and it would represent a major concession for the Ohio Republican. Boehner suggested hiking the Bush-era tax rates for top wage earners, including those with annual incomes of $1 million or more annually, beginning Jan. 1.”

Reuters reports that negotiations on averting the “fiscal cliff” are at an apparent impasse.

The AP notes that not getting a deal before December 31 “would immediately change the political dynamics, making
it easier for many lawmakers – especially Republicans – to agree to a
second-chance compromise in the new year.”

“This scenario strikes a good number of Washington insiders as
irresponsible and improbable – who knows how the markets will react? But
others argue it will be easier to round up the congressional votes
needed for a big compromise if the deadline passes and lawmakers rush
back to Washington next month under a starkly new political reality.”

Financial Times: “No deal” tax stance suggests many Republicans are willing to go over the fiscal cliff.

National Journal: “In the ongoing fiscal cliff chess match playing out on Capitol Hill, Democrats have a message for Republicans: checkmate.”

“Democrats look at the political landscape and see a win whether a deal gets cut now or after the country goes over the cliff. Worst-case scenario, they say, the House will approve legislation the Senate passed in July extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone but the rich, an idea that Republican House Speaker John Boehner has flatly rejected.”

“If Boehner refuses to pass the Senate bill before the end of the year, Democrats say their hand only gets stronger in the new year when the Senate will have 55 Democrats and at least five Republicans who have signaled they could vote to extend the middle-class tax cuts.”

Philip Klein: “The time for Republicans to win the tax debate
was during the 2012 election. They lost. That doesn’t mean they need to
give away the store, but it does mean that they’ll have to make some
accommodation for reality.”

National Memo: 5 reasons Republicans are getting clobbered on the fiscal cliff.

“January 1st is not the end of the fight. It’s the beginning of the fight.”

— Grover Norquist, quoted by Politico, apparently resigned to federal taxes going up.