On Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney accused House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) plans to avert the fiscal cliff of being “fantasy economics.”
Even though President Barack Obama’s initial offer, which included $1.6 trillion in new taxes an unprecedented powers for him to raise the debt ceiling without Congressional approval, did not get the support of Democrats, Carney said Republicans have not put forth specific spending cuts.
“What spending cuts have the Republicans put forward?” Carney said. “The proposal that we’ve seen is a two-page letter.”
At a press conference earlier on Thursday, Boehner said Obama was “unserious” about avoiding the fiscal cliff because he has no intentions of making spending cuts.
“The president wants to pretend spending isn’t the problem. That’s why we don’t have an agreement,” Boehner said. “Unfortunately, the White House is so unserious about cutting spending that it appears willing to slow-walk our economy right up to — and over — the fiscal cliff.”
Obama and Boehner met at the White House on Thursday and the meeting has been described as “frank.”
According to The Hill, Obama said the negotiations were “a work in progress” while walking to a holiday party.