fiscal cliff for dummies

[ijack]

Can someone explain this part to me please?
A GOP source told CNN negotiators are "very close" to a deal. The sticking point is $24 billion in spending cuts being sought by Republicans in place of deeper cuts that would automatically take effect at midnight, according to the source.
What do the dems want? Don't the republicans usually want more cuts? I don't understand this statement.

www.cnn.com/2012/12/31/politics/fiscal-cliff/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[LoveTrains]

The dems don't want cuts at all. The cuts that are going to take place will do so automatically on January 1st which is part of a deal that they made earlier. The idea was that these cuts are do ridiculous and so big that it would force dems and repubs to come up with a solution prior to the cuts taking effect.

[LoveTrains]

The other issue is that the automatic spending cuts are heavy in the defense budget. I suspect that the repubs package of cuts takes more from domestic spending and social things.

[ijack]

Oh, that's a good point - I hadn't thought about the difference in where the cuts were being made. Thanks!

[Deleted]

The Rs want the new revenue raised to go towards deficit reduction, not new spending. The Ds don't want to make promises on this. The Ds also want to put off the spending cuts for a year. Rs want three months.