‘No progress’ in ‘fiscal cliff’ talks, Boehner says

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner on Friday said “there’s no progress to report” on talks with President Barack Obama to avert tax increases and spending cuts set to take effect in January.

Boehner, an Ohio Republican, didn’t rule out the possibility of accepting a maximum tax rate between the current 35 percent and the 39.6 percent Obama wants for top earners.

“There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue the president seeks on the table,” the speaker said when asked by reporters in Washington whether he would agree to a lower rate if it protected small businesses.

He later issued a statement reiterating the tougher stance he has taken on the tax issue. “As I’ve said many, many, many times: I oppose tax rate increases because tax rate increases cost American jobs,” the statement said. “That has not changed, and will not change.”

In his earlier comments to reporters, he focused on criticizing Obama’s posture in the talks.

An agreement won’t be possible “if the president insists on his position, insists on my way or the highway,” he said. “That’s not the way to get an agreement.”

Boehner also said that this has been a “wasted week” in the negotiations.

The Obama administration didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Boehner’s remarks. The president met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, at the White House on Friday afternoon to discuss a variety of issues, including the “fiscal cliff,” according to a White House official.

Congress and Obama are trying to avert more than $600 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts starting in January that could send the U.S. into recession. Obama has stressed that no deal is possible without letting income tax rates rise for top earners.

Asserting a deal could be done in a snap, Vice President Biden said Friday that the White House is willing to negotiate on where to set the top income tax rate as long as Republicans agree that rate is going up.

“The top brackets have to go up. This is not a negotiable issue,” Biden said at a suburban Virginia diner where he lunched with middle-class taxpayers. “Theoretically we can negotiate how far up, but we think it should go - the top rate should go to 39.6 percent.”

The vice president sat at the Metro 29 diner surrounded by people who would see their tax bills rise if Congress and White House don’t reach a deal. The group told him the increased payments could mean cutting off piano lessons and gymnastics for their kids, the vice president said.

Biden suggested the deal could be dispensed with in a hurry. Snapping his fingers, Biden said it would take “15 minutes” for a bill to get done if Boehner agreed to let taxes on top earners go up.

Boehner described as “reckless talk” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement earlier this week that the administration is “absolutely” willing to go over the fiscal cliff in January if Republicans don’t agree to raise tax rates for top earners.

In a Bloomberg Television interview this week, Obama signaled he’s ready to make concessions on entitlement programs, which include Medicare.

Boehner has previously said his party won’t agree to higher tax rates for any income level. In a plan submitted to Obama this week, the speaker proposed $800 billion in new tax revenue by curbing unspecified deductions and credits.

Boehner said Friday his offer was an effort to “take a step towards the president to try to solve this. When is he going to take a step towards us?”

Pelosi on Friday called on Republicans to accept the results of the Nov. 6 election that she said vindicated Obama’s position on taxes.

Pelosi, too, didn’t rule out the possibility of a compromise on raising the top tax rates. “It just depends on how much money you can get,” she said. “It’s not about the rate, it’s about the money.”

Boehner and Obama are attempting to reach a deal alone in talks that exclude other Senate and House leaders such as Pelosi, said a Republican aide who requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Another Republican aide said having other leaders from both chambers as participants in talks last year wasn’t constructive.

The Obama administration earlier this week rejected Boehner’s proposal, which also would raise the Medicare eligibility age and slow Social Security cost-of-living increases.

Obama wants to let tax rates increase for individuals’ income higher than $200,000 annually and for married couples’ income exceeding $250,000.

Information for this article was contributed by Roxana Tiron, James Rowley, Heidi Przybyla and Hans Nichols of Bloomberg News and by Kathleen Hennessey of the Tribune Washington Bureau.