After Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown wrote on Facebook and Twitter early Thursday afternoon that he had "just learned that the Pres. reached out to Senate GOP leadership with a proposal," several media outlets reported that President Obama indeed sent a modified fiscal cliff deal to Congress, based primarily on Brown's posts.
Getting on place to DC to review plan from Pres.We will see. Better late than never— Scott P. Brown(@ScottBrownMA) December 27, 2012
Among the media outlets that reported the news were The Hill and Business Insider. The timing of the posts made some sense: Obama had touched down in Washington, D.C. an hour earlier, after cutting his Christmas vacation short to deal with the crisis. CNN's Dana Bash had also reported that Obama was indeed planning on sending a new set of proposals to Congress on Thursday:
Just in: I was just told by an informed GOP source POTUS told McConnell he would send a scaled back fiscal cliff bill to hill today.— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) December 27, 2012
However, about an hour later, Congressional and White House sources were denying the existence of any such deal:
Sources on both sides of the aisle, capitol say no offer down from White House.— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 27, 2012
I'm told reports that the White House is sending an offer to the hill are NOT accurate.— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 27, 2012
Sr. WH official tells me that, contrary to reports from Repubs, president will NOT be sending a fiscal cliff proposal to Capitol Hill.— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 27, 2012
WH saysNO bill. I shouldn't have used word BILL. But, McConnell aide STILL telling me they were told to expect details of scaled back plan— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) December 27, 2012
Obama may yet propose a new tax deal Thursday -- but for now, such a deal seems to be non-existent.