Obama and Boehner speak candidly, but there is still no progress in preventing the cliff

Obama and Boehner speak candidly, and there is still no progress in preventing the cliff. We are on the verge of falling off the fiscal cliff&#8221…

Obama and Boehner speak candidly, and there is still no progress in preventing the cliff. As they are getting closer to falling off the "fiscal cliff", President Obama and House Speaker Boehner held their second meeting at the White House on the evening of the 13th. Although they claimed it was a "candid meeting", the negotiations obviously did not achieve significant results, which heightened the outside world's anxiety about the lack of progress in avoiding the "fiscal cliff". This was the first meeting between Obama and Boehner in the White House in nine days, but it still failed to show whether the two parties have made progress in lifting the crisis of tax increases and deep spending cuts. Obama said the slow pace of negotiations was due to internal divisions among Republican congressmen, making it difficult for Boehner to negotiate. Boehner had a different view, criticizing Obama for insisting on raising taxes on the richest 2% of Americans, putting jobs and economic recovery at risk. White House spokesman Jay Carney reiterated Obama's commitment to raising tax rates for this group of people and complained that the Republicans were indifferent on this key issue. In an interview with WCCO TV in Minneapolis, Obama said he hopes Republicans will change their attitude about raising taxes on the wealthy, and that shouldn't be difficult. "The concept of not raising taxes has become like a religion for many Republicans, and I think Boehner's caucus has had internal disputes and sometimes not buying into him, making him unwilling to appear to be conceding to me because it would hurt his standing in his own caucus." Boehner accused Obama of delaying negotiations. Obama insisted on raising tax rates for families with incomes above $250,000 to reduce the federal deficit; Boehner said he opposed raising tax rates and was willing to increase taxes by closing loopholes in the tax law and limiting deductions. Within the Republican Party, more and more people are backing Obama's request to raise taxes on the wealthy, because if a budget agreement cannot be reached, the Bush-era tax cuts will expire on the 31st, and everyone will have their taxes increased next year. "I think we should stop debating tax rates now," said Republican Senator Burr of North Carolina. "We support extending tax cuts for the middle class, and when we start talking about tax reform, we will then debate what the top tax rate should be." House Democratic leader Pelosi also said that time is precious and both parties must work hard to work out a solution. She said: "We need to reach an agreement in the next few days and find a solution." "