When confronted with the choice of raising the debt ceiling or possibly triggering an economic depression, negotiations between President Obama and House speaker John Boehner fell apart. In the end, they settled on a compromise that would confront them again later: the fiscal cliff.

That’s where tonight’s film Inside Obama’s Presidency ends, and where we’ll pick up next month in Cliffhanger.

As the nation faces yet another round of fiscal crises, FRONTLINE investigates the inside history of how Washington has failed to solve the country’s problems of debt and deficit.

Drawing on interviews with key players in Congress and the White House, we’ll go behind the scenes to show how a clash of politics and personalities has taken the nation’s economy to the edge of the “fiscal cliff,” and now to a second round of standoffs over the debt ceiling and sequestration.

The film will also explore the deep ideological divide inside the Republican Party and the struggle between House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner as they take on President Obama and the Democrats.

Cliffhanger airs Tuesday, February 12, at a special time just ahead of President Obama’s State of the Union address. Check your local listings to find out when it will be broadcast on your local station.

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