Senate clears fiscal cliff deal 89-8  —  Congress lost a mad, New Year's Eve dash to beat the fiscal cliff deadline, cinching a deal with President Barack Obama to raise taxes on the wealthy and temporarily freeze deep spending cuts but failing to get it through both chambers before midnight.

Focus now turns to the House  —  The House returns to work on the first day of the new year, and will have to sort out its reaction to a Senate-passed bill meant to avoid the fiscal cliff.  —  The Senate bill, which the upper chamber approved in a 89-8 vote at about 2 a.m. on Tuesday …

Senate Passes Tax Increases on Wealthy Americans  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate, in a pre-dawn vote two hours after the deadline passed to avert automatic tax increases, overwhelmingly approved legislation Tuesday that would allow tax rates to rise only on affluent Americans …

Your fiscal cliff deal cheat sheet  —  The White House and the Senate have finalized the details of their deal to avert the fiscal cliff.  The bill basically follows the framework that came out earlier this afternoon from the McConnell-Biden talks, with key additional details.

It's official: Deal reached on “fiscal cliff”  —  As revelers in Times Square and cities and towns across the country wait for the ball to drop to ring in the new year, politicians in Washington have announced that a ball is not likely to drop on the average taxpayer.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Reached: White House, Hill Leaders Agree To Delay Sequester By Two Months … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Harry Reid , John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama , Barack Obama , Video, 2012 Fiscal Cliff, Harry Reid Fiscal Cliff, US Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff 2012 …

Another Fiscal Flop  —  Over the course of the 20th century, America built its welfare state.  It was, by and large, a great achievement, expanding opportunity and security for millions.  Unfortunately, as the population aged and health care costs surged, it became unaffordable.

Conceder In Chief?  —  OK, I've had my own sorta-kinda briefing on the apparent fiscal cliff deal, and I'm pretty much with Noam Scheiber.  Viewed on its own, it's a bad and upsetting deal but not as terrible as initial rumors had it.  But the strategic consequences are likely to be very bad indeed, and in very short order too.

Democrats' Cliff Compromise Is Bad; But the Strategic Consequences Are Disastrous  —  I'll be blunt: I hate the fiscal-cliff compromise that Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden are hammering out today, which will make the Bush tax cuts permanent on income below $450,000, renew the current …