Barbara Boxer: “as we stand here--or sit here--and watch what is happening, we know there are negotiations going on to avert at least…”

“as we stand here--or sit here--and watch what is happening, we know there are negotiations going on to avert at least part of the fiscal cliff. I want to say--I have said this privately, but I want to do it publicly--I hope our leaders can find a way out of this. I watched the President speak today and I thought, as usual, he was very fair in what he said. What he basically said is it is the middle class that grows this economy. It is the middle class that needs to be lifted up. It is the middle class that cannot afford tax hikes. Those at the very top can do just a little bit more. It is a very simple point. I hope, given that everyone says they are for the middle class--I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say that every day, that they agree with that--that finding this compromise will not be elusive but will come to pass. I have been here for a while. My understanding is we have not met between Christmas and New Year's Day since 1962. So it does take a crisis of major proportions to make that happen. I think we are in a crisis right now, but it is a self-made one. It is a self-imposed one. It is similar to the crisis we had on the debt ceiling--self-imposed. It is not some, God forbid, exterior attack on our country which we could not prevent. It is not some, God forbid, plague or a terrible virus that is running across the land. To me it is something that is not that complicated.…”