Hard to tell winners from losers as all blast failure to reach long-term solution

As associations started the new year assessing the deal reached by Congress to avoid the worst of the tax hikes under the "fiscal cliff," one thing was certain: even winners didn't feel like celebrating.

"Missed opportunity," "inadequate" and "hugely disappointing" were just some descriptions used by association CEOs to describe the compromise in the hours after its passage. Their lack of enthusiasm was due to Congress failing to reach any decisions on federal spending, instead pushing back the deadlines for a host of revenue measures, from entitlement reform to tax credits for renewable energy.

For example, Congress punted on passing a new farm bill in 2012, instead extending current farming programs until September of this year. The short-term patch left many farm groups dismayed.

"These stop-gap efforts don't even qualify as kicking the can down the road," Jerry Kozak, CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, said in a statement. "It's little more than a New Year's Day, hair-of-the-dog stab at temporarily putting off decisions that should have been made in 2012 about how to move farm policy forward, not offer more of the same."

Also angry was the American Hospital Association. The deal averted by one year a 26 percent cut in spending for doctors who treat Medicare patients, but only by reducing Medicare payments to hospitals over 10 years.

"While fixing the physician payment formula is essential, it should not be done by jeopardizing hospitals' ability to care for seniors and their communities," said AHA CEO Rich Umbdenstock in a statement.

Uncertain future

Renewable energy groups won some breathing room, with Congress voting to extend expiring tax credits for wind energy and biodiesel production for at least another year.

Still, there was no guarantee Congress would actually pass the measures until the last minute, and that uncertainty cost many people in the wind energy sector their jobs as companies idled their plants, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

"Uncertain federal policies have caused a ‘boom-bust' cycle in U.S. wind energy development for over a decade," the association said in a statement.

Economic uncertainty was a common theme in the statements made by many business groups following the announcement of a deal. Association CEOs urged lawmakers to start crafting long-term policy solutions that could give their members ability to plan for the future.

"While the tax provisions provide a level of stability, we are left with the likelihood of ongoing brinksmanship and have no meaningful framework for addressing our long-term fiscal challenges," National Small Business Association President Todd McCracken said in a statement.

For individual association reactions to the fiscal cliff deal, click here.

Reporter Lori Sharn contributed to this report.