Former congressional leaders talked about the process of reaching their 1990 deficit agreement that eventually helped bring the federal budget into surplus. Topics included the major leaders in the agreement, and the actions and compromises that ultimately led to compromise.
Former Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) made opening remarks about some of the trends contributing to contemporary congressional gridlock.
At the time of this discussion, current congressional leaders were involved in negotiations to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” "Fiscal cliff" referred to impending tax increases and sequestration budget cuts at the end of 2012 if Congress failed to reach a new budget agreement.*"Sequestration," a legal procedure in which automatic budget cuts are triggered, was agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011.