NW Ohio politicians weigh in fiscal cliff - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

With just three days before the dreaded fiscal cliff, there's plenty of blame being tossed around in Washington DC, which is where Northwest Ohio politicians are headed this weekend for a House session that's set to open Sunday.

But before they left, they spoke to 13abc about whether or not they think a deal will be reached or if the country goes over the cliff -- when taxes go up and spending is cut.

"We don't want to see these tax rates go up for the American people," said Rep. Bob Latta (R-5^th).

"Whether it will be a long term or a short term fix, I can't predict at this moment," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-9^th)^.

They're two politicians from two different sides of the aisle, see this standoff over the fiscal cliff from two different perspectives.  Congresswoman Kaptur thinks the internal problems of the Republican party are the problem, leading to speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" never going up for a vote. 

"I saw the negotiations break down in the house between speaker John Boehner and the Tea Party caucus where another Ohioan Jim Jordan leads the Republican study group and they were at logger heads.  And to put the American people through this because factions can't reach agreement isn't very republic," said Kaptur. 

Congressman Latta says that's not the case with "Plan B." 

"It's one of those things that there were a couple of different options out there and this would be on top of what we've already sent to the Senate and some members thought we already sent something over to them. And the speaker pulled the bill," said Latta. 

Latta says the issue is the Senate that's still not moved on a House plan from August.  That would have let all tax rates stay the same for one more year. 

"I think the Senate has got to come to the table and stop the name calling and say we've got to pass something," said Latta. 

"I think we saw with retail sales for the holidays season that they weren't has high as predicted.  I think people were saving their pennies because they don't know, it's already having an impact on recovery, right?" said Kaptur.