CBO: Ending Bush Tax Cuts Will Send US Off 'Fiscal Cliff'

A new government study says that allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire and a scheduled round of automatic spending cuts to take effect would probably throw the economy into a recession.

The Congressional Budget Office report says that the economy would shrink by 1.3 percent in the first half of next year if the government is allowed to fall off this so-called "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 1. The cliff is what experts call the combination of higher tax rates and more than $100 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

It's a point that Republican leaders have hammered at again and again in an effort to move President Obama into responsible negotiations over keeping the Bush tax cuts.

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