Obama, top Republican meet on fiscal cliff
2012-12-10 08:06
Washington - President Barack Obama and House of
Representatives speaker John Boehner met on Sunday to discuss the so-called
impending fiscal cliff of steep tax hikes and spending cuts.
No details of the talks were given, but a statement from
Boehner's office said "the lines of communication remain open", And
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said, word for word, the same thing, also
refusing to go into details.
The fact that the two sides avoided a chance to put duelling
spins on the talks stood in contrast to the more hostile tone that has pervaded
the showdown in recent days.
Boehner said on Friday he could report "no
progress" in deficit talks. He accused the White House of recklessly pushing
the country to the fiscal brink over tax hikes.
The last time the two leaders had spoken was Wednesday, by
telephone.
The so-called fiscal cliff refers to a combination of severe
tax increases and spending cuts due to kick in automatically in January if the
president and Congress don't find a compromise plan to cut the deficit first.
No compromise
Economists warn that careening over the fiscal cliff would
throw the country back into a recession.
Obama sent Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Capitol
Hill last week with an opening gambit, proposing $1.6 trillion in new tax
revenues over the next decade, mainly from higher tax rates on the wealthiest 2%
of Americans.
A Republican counter-offer included a plan for $800bn in tax
revenue raised through closing loopholes and ending some deductions. Both plans
have been rejected.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama said he was willing to
find ways to reduce health costs and make more entitlement spending cuts as
sought by the Republicans.
But he said asking "the wealthiest Americans to pay
higher tax rates - that's one principle I won't compromise on."
- SAPA
