video transcript

With the last hours of 2012 ticking rapidly away in the U.S. the White House and congressional lawmakers reached a deal to avert an impending plunge off the fiscal cliff. Without a deal some 600 billion dollars of tax hikes and spending cuts were due to kick in on January 1st, 2013. An Obama administration source said the deal would delay the harsh measures but only for two months. The source said half would come from defence and the other half from non-defence areas. The agreement includes a balance of spending cuts and revenue increases to pay for the delay in spending cuts.