President Obama’s remarks this morning on his “fiscal cliff” negotiations with House Republicans signals optimism that a deal may be close.  Both sides have made concessions but continue to push for additional concession from the other. Near the end of his remarks this morning, the President said,

“I remain optimistic, because if you look at what the speaker has proposed, he’s conceded that income tax rates should go up . . . I’ve said I’m willing to make some cuts. What separates us is probably a few hundred billion dollars. The idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can’t bridge that cap doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

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