The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a fiscal crisis that combines automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer, AP reported. Four days after House Republicans offered a plan to raise tax revenues and cut spending, Speaker John Boehner, who leads his party in the talks, told reporters that the Democrat-controlled White House has failed to outline its proposal and instead has pushed the nation closer to a so-called fiscal cliff that economists warn could plunge the country into another recession. The two men also spoke privately by phone on Wednesday. Boehner described the conversation as pleasant, "but just more of the same.". "Since then, there's been no counteroffer from the White House," Boehner complained. "Instead, reports indicate that the president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff." Boehner repeated the long-standing Republican argument that raising tax rates would be detrimental to small businesses and "is not going to help our economy and it's not going to help those seeking work." Obama has insisted that any deal must include an increase in the tax rates for high earners. -- SPA
