Jamie Dupree
AJC ^[1]
Dec 27, 2012

As the Senate returns to work on Thursday morning and President Obama retuns early from a Christmas vacation in Hawaii, the latest five day break from Washington, D.C. does not seem to have produced any way forward on the tax and budget impasse known as the fiscal cliff.

“The lines of communication remain open,” said Speaker John Boehner in a statement issued Wednesday, which made clear the GOP leadership won’t summon House members back to Washington unless the Senate acts on a fiscal cliff bill first.

“The House has acted on two bills which collectively would avert the entire fiscal cliff if enacted,” said the Speaker, channeling a little Schoolhouse Rock on how a bill becomes a law.

“Those bills await action by the Senate,” said Boehner.

Democrats meanwhile groused about the Speaker not calling the House back into session to work on a fiscal cliff legislation.

Full article here ^[1]