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Washington, Dec.11, trading stocks .- Budget negotiations between the White House and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have progressed steadily in recent days, people close to the process said, breathing life into talks that appeared to have stalled.
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Both sides still face sizable differences before any agreement might be reached by the end of the year, and talks could well falter again over such controversial issues as taxes and Medicare before any deal is reached.
The people familiar with the matter say talks have taken a marked shift in recent days as staff and leaders have consulted, becoming more "serious." Both sides have agreed to keep details private, according to the people, who declined to detail where new ground was being broken.
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For several weeks, the White House and Republican leaders have sparred over how to deal with expiring tax breaks and mandatory spending cuts set to begin in January. The White House and Republicans have proposed replacing these changes, known as the "fiscal cliff," with other policies, but have remained divided on how best to do that. Republicans want more spending cuts than Democrats will accept, and Democrats have proposed more tax increases than Republicans will accept.
In past weeks, posturing focused mainly on what changes should be made to tax policy. Last week, leaders debated how to handle the U.S. borrowing limit.
Mr. Boehner visited the White House Sunday, four days after speaking with Mr. Obama on the phone. Mr. Obama also met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Friday, the same day he spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.). Mr. Obama and Mr. Reid also spoke on Monday.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress to veterans of congressional negotiations is the fact that both sides of the talks maintained a strict public moratorium on commenting on the talks. One Republican said that in Congress, as in union negotiations, the most progress is made at the bargaining table when the parties are not speaking at the microphones.
Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, said in a written statement Monday: "Discussions with the White House are taking place, but we have no detail to share about the substance of those conversations. The Republican offer made last week remains the Republican offer, and we continue to wait for the president to identify the spending cuts he's willing to make as part of the 'balanced' approach he promised the American people."
Associated Press
President Barack Obama promoted his tax plan Monday in a visit to Daimler Detroit Diesel in Redford, Mich.
Traveling with the president, White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to characterize the Obama-Boehner meeting or its impact on the state of negotiations, but he remained upbeat about the prospects for a deal.
"The president does believe that we can reach an agreement," Mr. Carney told reporters en route to Detroit, where Mr. Obama delivered an afternoon speech. "Our interest is in seeing if we can reach an agreement and not trying to negotiate an agreement through the media."
In his speech, Mr. Obama said, "I want us to bring down our deficits, but I want to do it in a balanced, responsible way."
Neither side appears sure a deal will be reached. Messrs. Obama and Boehner had advanced discussions in summer 2011 in an effort to broker a large-scale deficit-reduction deal as part of an agreement to increase the debt ceiling, but those efforts faltered. Republicans are still trying to determine how much the White House is willing to agree to spending cuts, and the White House is still trying to determine the size of tax increases that Republicans would be willing to accept.
Mr. Obama's speech continued his drive to gin up public support for his proposed tax plan, which calls for raising top rates for high-income earners.
Separately, Mr. Obama's political group Obama for America urged his supporters to call members of Congress in support of the president's position of keeping current tax rates the same for income up to $250,000, while allowing rates on upper brackets to rise.. ... Continue to read.
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