Reuters reports on the latest maneuvering by House Republicans and the White House in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, which included a recent phone call between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
Asked in an interview with CNBC if the administration was ready to go over the so-called fiscal cliff if Republicans don’t come around on taxes, Obama’s chief negotiator, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, responded: “Oh, absolutely.”
With no resolution in sight and the fiscal cliff looming, the White House budget office has told all federal agencies to begin planning for possible automatic spending cuts.
Meanwhile, the National Journal looks at Democrats’ “deliberate strategy to slow-walk Republicans to the edge of the fiscal cliff in a belief that mounting pressure from within the GOP will force conservatives to fold on tax hikes.”