With a Republican controlled House, a Democrat controlled Senate and President Obama in the White House, the makeup of Washington hasn't changed—but will the tone? House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday Republicans are willing to accept "some additional revenues under the right conditions."
It's unclear if the Speaker could be persuaded to accept tax increases on high earners as part of that revenue, but today New York Senator Chuck Schumer said he was "heartened" by Boehner's comments. Schumer added, "You can't expect the Speaker to turn on a dime in 24 hours and embrace everything, higher taxes, higher taxes on the wealthy, but I think privately that he's seen the handwriting on the wall, and it makes me very hopeful that we can do something big in the next month and a half. It's a good first step."
On Thursday, Alex and our panel spoke about whether or not the spirit of bipartisanship will return to Washington, at least for long enough to hammer out a deal on the fiscal cliff.