Cliff-Skeptics in Both Parties Deepen Fiscal Challenges

President Barack Obama says going over the fiscal cliff by missing the deadline for a deficit reduction deal by year’s end would be a “rude shock” for Americans. Republican House Speaker John Boehner says it would be a “fiasco.”

Yet a small and potentially influential group of lawmakers in both parties is emerging as fiscal-cliff skeptics, willing -- and some even arguing -- to take the dive. Their attitude may make striking a compromise a messy and drawn-out process.