What 'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Would Do - and Not Do
The fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate and under consideration in the House today is 48 pages of legislative legalese, but here are the key points of what is in the bill - and what is not in the bill.
- Raise the income tax rate for individuals making $400,000 and couples earning $450,000 from 35 percent to 39.6 percent
- Permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 annually
- Raise the estate tax from 35 percent to 40 percent for large estates
- Permanently prevent the alternative minimum tax from hammering millions of middle-class workers
- Give a one-year extension on unemployment insurance benefits set to expire today for 2 million people
- Bypass a steep decrease in Medicare payments for doctors
- Extend price subsidies for products like milk, peanuts and sugar
- Extend tax credits for energy efficient homes, alternative fuel vehicles and children
- Require the creation of a federal clinical data registry to create more accountability for health care costs
What it doesn't do:
- Make significant cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security or Medicare
- Raise the debt limit of $16.4 trillion, which the United States is scheduled to hit within days
- Raise salaries for members of Congress
- Cut the deficit in a way that would satisfy budget hawks
- Deal with the scheduled spending cuts past pushing them farther down the road