It's a term we've been hearing about for several months now, the "fiscal cliff." It's being used to describe tax increases and spending cuts slated to go into effect at the beginning of next year. Congressman Tom Reed said he's optimistic that he and his colleagues will be able to avoid it.
Analysts from the Congressional Budget Office say going over the cliff would cut the federal deficit by 503 billion dollars through next September, but that the austerity measures would cause the economy to shrink by 0.5 percent next year and cost millions of jobs.
