What happens from here?
No one on Capitol Hill thinks any deal will happen before Election Day. After Nov. 6, Congress will have just a few weeks to come up with an alternative to the sequester. The challenge is complicated by the fact that the Bush tax cuts, the payroll tax, unemployment benefits and a host of other tax breaks are all scheduled to expire Dec. 31. The cumulative impact of all of these scheduled cuts and changes is whats popularly known as the fiscal cliff. Theres already talk of passing a short-term stopgap budget plan during the lame-duck session to buy legislators more time to come up with a grand bargain
