Obama back for fiscal cliff talks

27 December 2012 Last updated at 02:56 GMT President Obama is expected to meet Republican leaders to try to find a compromise US President Barack Obama has cut short his holidays in Hawaii and is flying to Washington to try to reach a deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff".

Unless a compromise is found, tax increases and huge spending cuts come into force on 1 January, threatening to tip the US back into recession.

However, Democrats and Republicans are still at loggerheads over the issue.

Meanwhile, the US Treasury is to take extraordinary measures to delay reaching a 31 December borrowing limit.

In a letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said it would take accounting measures to save about $200bn to prevent reaching the $16.4tn borrowing limit.

He said this would prevent the government from reaching the borrowing limit for about another two months.

This $16.4tn is the amount the government is allowed to borrow to finance its operations.

'Silent corridors' Continue reading the main story On 1 January 2013, tax increases and huge spending cuts are due to come into force - the so-called fiscal cliff Deadline was put in place in 2011 to force president and Congress to agree ways to save money over the next 10 yearsFear is that raising taxes while massively cutting spending will have huge impact on households and businessesExperts believe it could push the US into recession, and have a global impact on growthMr Obama is expected to meet Republican leaders again to try to negotiate a solution, although no new date has been announced.

Failure to do so could damage the US and global markets, and threatens to send the US economy into recession.

The two sides remain far apart on the fiscal cliff's $600bn in tax rises and spending cuts, but analysts say a short-term deal may be agreed that will postpone the cuts until spring.

On Wednesday, the Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner called on the Democrat-led Senate to come up with legislation on how it would avoid the cliff, and pass it to the House for consideration.

However, a senior administration official said it was up to Republican leaders not to stand in the way of an agreement.

Despite this, there is little sense of urgency in the capital - the corridors of Congress are silent, the BBC's Zoe Conway in Washington reports.

Tax year 1993-2000 2001 2002 2003-2008 2009-2012 2012 tax brackets 2013 scenarios

Source: Tax Foundation, IRS

Tax brackets shown for unmarried individuals

Bill Clinton

George W Bush

Barack Obama

Tax cuts expire for top incomes

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Obama delivers powerful pledge

17 December 2012 Last updated at 06:24 GMT Barack Obama referred to the four mass killings that have happened under his presidency President Obama has promised to use the power of his office to do all he can to prevent another massacre of the innocent.

He didn't directly mention gun control, but speaking in front of an audience of the bereaved and their friends in Newtown, it is the strongest pledge a president has ever made to wrestle with the powerful gun lobby.

He spoke not from the Oval Office, or some grand convention centre, but at a prayer vigil that could have been in any small town.

It all seemed so familiar.

At the beginning the blue curtains were pulled back either side of the stage, people of all ages sat in the rows of chairs, the piano played familiar tunes, a baby interrupted with a cry.

It could have been a village hall anywhere in this country or our own, about to celebrate a nativity or watch a pantomime.

But it wasn't just any where, it was Newtown.

This simple, homespun service brought home the sense that an ordinary place and ordinary people have been struck by a blow so grotesquely out of the ordinary that it makes a country beg for meaning.

Struggling for a response

Yet it isn't out of the ordinary at all.

Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage”

End Quote Barack Obama

As the president pointed out, there have been four such mass murders during his presidency, punctuated by other killings, almost weekly tragedies.

As a late arrival here, I really get the feeling of a country struggling to find an appropriate response to this home-grown horror.

I have heard questions about video games, violence, young men and mental health.

TV stations have aired discussion about God's will, and with near desperation seek stories of heroism to redeem an American narrative.

But it keeps coming back to that assault rifle that was used to murder so many.

It is hard for many in Britain to understand the meaning of guns in America, the association with rights and freedoms.

To some the constitutional guarantee of the right to bear arms is a bulwark against tyranny, as well as a means of practical self-protection.

But the president spoke of the desperate need of parents to do all they can to protect their children and asked:

"Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?

"Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"

As yet supporters of liberal gun laws remain silent, doubtless hoping the wave of emotion will pass from the headlines and nothing will change.

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Obama seeks gun reform solution

18 December 2012 Last updated at 08:19 GMT A hearse carrying the casket of six-year-old Jack Pinto enters the Newtown Village Cemetery US President Barack Obama has met senior officials to discuss how to respond to Friday's school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults died.

The White House said curbing gun violence was a "complex" problem that required a comprehensive solution.

On Sunday Mr Obama told Newtown residents he would do everything in his power to prevent further tragedies.

The first two funerals of victims of the shooting were held on Monday.

Novelist Lionel Shriver discusses the place of the gun in US society

Sandy Hook school pupils Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both aged six, were buried, and other victims' funerals will be held throughout the week.

The town has been removing Christmas decorations in mourning.

The Sandy Hook gunman was named as Adam Lanza, who took his own life at the end of a killing spree that began with him shooting dead his own mother.

'Action needed'

On Monday Mr Obama met Vice President Joe Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to discuss proposals aimed at reducing gun violence.

Mr Biden will be put in charge of the initiative, the Washington Post said quoting unnamed sources close to the government.

Continue reading the main story

I have covered stories for 15 years in the field, some of the biggest, and have never seen anything like this, nor felt so uncomfortable about being part of it”

End Quote Earlier, White House spokesman Jay Carney said tighter gun control laws were part of the answer to violence in the US.

"It's a complex problem that will require a complex solution," Mr Carney said. "No single piece of legislation, no single action will fully address the problem."

He added that the president supported reinstating an assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Correspondents say Democrats have been reluctant to pursue gun control legislation, but that there are signs that fear could be abating, with two pro-gun senators calling for changes.

Mark Warner and Joe Manchin, who have "A" ratings from the National Rifle Association (NRA), now say action is needed after the massacre.

Continue reading the main story West Virginia Senator Mr Manchin told US network MSNBC on Monday that it was time to "move beyond rhetoric".

Mr Manchin, a gun owner and frequent hunter, said: "I don't know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle."

Virginia Senator Mark Warner said that the "status quo isn't acceptable" and called for "rational gun control".

Mr Warner said he had been approached repeatedly over the weekend as people began to seek answers and solutions.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, a long-time advocate for gun regulations, said on Sunday she would introduce assault weapons ban legislation in the beginning of the next congressional session.

On Sunday President Barack Obama told residents at a vigil in Newtown the US must do more to protect its children.

"We can't tolerate this any more," Mr Obama said. "These tragedies must end and to end them we must change."

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