memeorandum: An F for effort on holding down tuition (Charles Lane/Washington Post)

9:55 AM ET, January 2, 2013

Top Items:

The fiscal cliff deal that almost wasn't — House Speaker John Boehner couldn't hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday. — It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Daniel W. Drezner, The Week, Mediaite, Weekly Standard, ABCNEWS, Business Insider, Taegan Goddard's …, No More Mister Nice Blog, The National Memo, CNN, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Maddow Blog and ABCNEWS

David Rogers / Reuters:

House pulls plug on Sandy aid bill — House Republicans abruptly pulled the plug Tuesday night on their promise to take up this week an emergency supplemental disaster aid bill for Northeast states damaged by Hurricane Sandy. — The decision is a stunning reversal since just hours …

Discussion: Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, The Hill, The Mahablog and The Hill

Los Angeles Times:

House approves ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, rescinding broad tax hike — This post has been updated. See below for details. — WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval Tuesday night to a bill to rescind tax increases for the vast majority of Americans, but only after a day of closed-door …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, CBS News, TechCrunch, The Moderate Voice, The Reaction and Patterico's Pontifications

Matthew Boyle / BREITBART.COM:

SOURCES: ENOUGH REPUBLICANS WILLING TO UNSEAT SPEAKER BOEHNER — American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer told Breitbart News late Tuesday that enough House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position—they just need a leader to take up the mantle.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, The Week, Booman Tribune and Joe. My. God.

Washington Post:

House members meet to review Senate-passed cliff deal — Republicans and Democrats were gathering in closed-door meetings in the House on Tuesday to evaluate the bipartisan agreement struck in the Senate to let income taxes rise sharply on the rich and avoid the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Agonist, DownWithTyranny!, Hot Air, The Week, AMERICAblog, The Huffington Post, Roll Call, The Fix, Post Politics, Taylor Marsh, Power Line, Althouse, The Raw Story, BuzzFeed, Calculated Risk, The Moderate Voice and The Plum Line

Michael O'Brien / NBC Politics:

Fiscal cliff deal: House OKs proposal despite GOP objections — Updated at 6:58 a.m. ET: An agreement to stave off the harshest and most immediate consequences of the fiscal cliff won approval in the House late Tuesday. President Barack Obama said he would sign the law …

Discussion: The Talking Dog, msnbc.com, BBC, Daily Kos, First Read and Gawker

Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
GOP Congressmen Suggest Republican Senators Who Voted For ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Compromise Were Drunk

Discussion: The Raw Story, ABCNEWS, Balloon Juice, The Other McCain and The Gateway Pundit

Ginger Gibson / Politico:
Boehner, Cantor take different sides

Discussion: Algemeiner.com and The Hill

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:
CBO: ‘Fiscal cliff’ deal carries $4 trillion price tag over next decade

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Politico, BREITBART.COM, RedState, The Week, John Lott's Website, The Gateway Pundit, The Other McCain, CNN, Business Insider and The Fix

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:
House Republicans gauging support for two budget options

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, NBC Politics, The Huffington Post, CBS News, The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake, Liberal Values, AMERICAblog, The Hill, Crooks and Liars, The Agonist and Post Politics

Niels Lesniewski / Roll Call:
Senate Votes to Kill Its Own Pay Raise

Discussion: Truthdig and The New Republic

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
Could A Boehner-Cantor Rift Send The Country Over The Fiscal Cliff?

Discussion: Bloomberg, CBS News, The Impolitic, The Raw Story, Associated Press, The Hill, The Huffington Post, CANNONFIRE and Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes'

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Boehner's 100 loyal soldiers might give him political cover on ‘fiscal cliff’

Discussion: ABCNEWS, USA Today, The Hill, Hullabaloo, Hot Air and Crooks and Liars

David Rogers / Politico:
The price tag: Deal could add nearly $4 trillion to deficit

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Jared Bernstein, Truthdig and The Gateway Pundit

Peter Baker / New York Times:
On the Left, Seeing Obama Giving Away Too Much, Again

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Maddow Blog, ABCNEWS, The Reaction, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Conservatives4Palin

Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times:
Tax Deal's Passage Ends Latest Standoff

Discussion: Wonkblog, Associated Press, Washington Post, msnbc.com, News Desk, The Week, Wall Street Journal, Truthdig, Angry Bear, CNN, The Maddow Blog, Taegan Goddard's …, Balloon Juice and Politico

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
Say Yes to the Mess — The fiscal cliff deal that the Senate …

Discussion: ABCNEWS and The Daily Caller

David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:

House Passes Fiscal Cliff Deal — The House of Representatives gave final passage to the fiscal cliff deal Tuesday night. The final vote was 257-167.

BREITBART.COM:
FISCAL CLIFF DEAL: HOLLYWOOD GETS TAX INCENTIVE EXTENSION

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider, RealClearPolitics Video Log, Politico and Michelle Malkin

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Part 1 of the Fiscal Cliff is Over. Now Gird Yourself for Part 2.

Discussion: Wonkblog, Post Politics and Washington Monthly

Joe Weisenthal / Business Insider:
6 Things You Won't Believe That Are In The Fiscal Cliff Bill That The Senate Passed At 2 AM …

Discussion: Rational Irrationality, The PJ Tatler, Mediaite and The National Memo

Dskriloff / The Rockland County Times:

The Journal News is Armed and Dangerous — ROCKLAND COUNTY TIMES EXCLUSIVE — Armed guards from RGA Investigations have taken up post at the Journal News' Rockland County headquarters — Journal News' Rockland headquarters in West Nyack, Town of Clarkstown — Guns are good for the goose but NOT for the gander.

Discussion: Shot in the Dark, Weasel Zippers and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:

‘Journal News’ hires armed security guards — The Journal News of West Nyack, N.Y., has hired armed security guards to defend its offices after receiving a torrent of phone calls and emails responding to the paper's publication of the names and addresses of area residents with pistol permits.

Discussion: Reuters, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Poynter, Balloon Juice, Jammie Wearing Fools and UrbanGrounds

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Back to Vacation: Obama Takes Midnight Flight to Hawaii — After Congress agreed temporarily to avert the “fiscal cliff” last night, President Barack Obama hailed the deal in brief remarks delivered from the White House, and then headed to Air Force One to take a midnight flight to Hawaii.

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

An Optimistic Take On the “Cliff” Deal — Here are some glass-half-full observations on last night's McConnell-Biden fiscal deal from an inveterate optimist. — Raising taxes on those who are already paying roughly double their fair share, while leaving everyone else's taxes the same, is lousy public policy.

Ross Douthat:
Liberalism's $400,000 Problem

Discussion: American Power, Instapundit, The Agonist and Little Green Footballs

Charles Lane / Washington Post:

An F for effort on holding down tuition — At the University of Minnesota, the number of employees with “human resources” or “personnel” in their job titles has grown from 180 to 272 since the 2004-05 academic year. Since 2006, the university has spent $10 million on consultants for a vast …

Discussion: Via Meadia

Talking Points Memo:

Obama Praises Passage Of House Tax Deal — Late Tuesday night, President Obama praised the House's passage of the Senate-approved fiscal cliff agreement to prevent a variety of tax hikes on middle class Americans. — The bill now heads to the president's desk.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Richard Rubin / Bloomberg:

Senate-Passed Deal Means Higher Tax on 77% of Households — The budget deal passed by the U.S. Senate today would raise taxes on 77.1 percent of U.S. households, mostly because of the expiration of a payroll tax cut, according to preliminary estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit