WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner yesterday accused President Obama of trying to “slow-walk” the nation “to the edge of the fiscal cliff,” in the latest broadside to reveal the gap between the two sides.
Boehner and Obama spoke on the phone this week to discuss the impasse over taxes and spending cuts, but the two sides remain deadlocked over Obama’s insistence that tax rates go up on top earners.
“The call was pleasant, but it was just more of the same,” Boehner told reporters at the Capitol. “It’s time for the president, if he’s serious, to come back to us with a counteroffer.”
Vice President Joe Biden said a deal could be hatched in “15 minutes” if Republicans would give on rates.
“The top brackets have to go up. This is not a negotiable issue. Theoretically, we can negotiate how far up, but we think . . . the top rate should go to 39.6 percent,” he said.