Senator: Fiscal cliff deal ‘far from what this country needs’

Georgia’s two senators may not have liked the deal reached to try an avert the fiscal cliff, but they voted for it to avert a tax increase on most Americans.

“This deal is far from what this country needs, but I cannot in good conscience allow taxes to be raised on all Americans and send our economy into turmoil,” U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said in a statement.

The measure passed the senate by an 89-8 vote following a day of negations.

“This 11th-hour negotiation is no way to run a country, but I voted for this agreement because it protects 99 percent of Americans from a tax increase, permanently protects tens of thousands of farmers and family businesses from having to pay the estate tax upon the death of a loved one, and permanently fixes the alternative minimum tax to protect some 30 million households a year from having to pay it,” U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said in a statement. “…It is time for the president to get serious about spending cuts and entitlement reforms, and I look forward to enacting significant measures in the coming weeks that will reduce our debt.”

It remains to be seen whether the House will vote on the measure approved in the Senate.

“While I am pleased that most Americans have been saved from an increase in taxes, I won’t be satisfied that the Senate has finished its work on the fiscal cliff until significant spending cuts on discretionary and entitlement spending have occurred,” Chambliss said.

“The president failed to negotiate a deal to reduce our debt, but I, like other Senate Republicans, look forward to the very real opportunity to negotiate substantial, meaningful spending cuts in the coming weeks,” Chambliss added.