Senator Chuck Grassley says that he thinks the possibility of a grand compromise still exists as it relates to the upcoming fiscal cliff. He tells KNIA/KRLS News that if it can be easily reached, he expects that House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and President Barack Obama will do so before Christmas Eve.

The fiscal cliff is an automatic series of tax hikes and spending cuts that were approved to achieve needed defect savings. Those cuts were put in place in 2011, with many in Washington believing that the dramatic and quick tax increases and spending cuts would provide motivation to both sides of the aisle to come to a compromise on the deficit issue before they were enacted.

Grassley explains to KNIA/KRLS that if longer negotiations are needed, he expects the Fiscal Cliff deadline to be pushed from January 1 to a time later in the year, allowing those negotiations to continue in the new Congress. He says he does not expect Congress will allow those fiscal cliff provisions to be enacted, citing as one example that the spending of defense would decrease by 56 billion dollars next year.