WASHINGTON — President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner sat down for face-to-face talks yesterday about the looming fiscal cliff.
It was their first “solo” meeting since the election to discuss preventing the automatic spending cuts and tax increases scheduled for Jan. 1.
Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday there had been no progress.
Neither camp would reveal details about what, if any, progress was made during the chat yesterday.
“We’re not reading out details of the conversation, but the lines of communication remain open,” an Obama spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee yesterday became the latest Republican to say the GOP should think about folding on tax hikes for the rich because of Obama’s political advantage.
“There is a growing group of folks that are looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue,” Corker told “Fox News Sunday.”
“I actually think it has merit,” said the lawmaker, who is known for a pragmatic streak. “You go in and give the president the 2 percent increase that he’s talking about. And all of a sudden, the shift goes back to [cuts in] entitlements.”
Obama wants to send income-tax rates back to 36 percent and 39.6 percent for the top brackets — although Vice President Joe Biden sounded willing to compromise Friday when he said “theoretically, we can negotiate how far up” rates go.
Obama travels to Detroit today to visit a diesel plant, where he’ll try to keep up the public pressure on Republicans.
Conservative Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said yesterday he’d go along with a rate increase to get cost-saving reforms out of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
“Will I accept a tax increase as a part of a deal to actually solve our problems? Yes,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
But Republicans are slamming Democrats for refusing to disclose what cuts they’re willing to swallow.
“No Republican wants to vote for a rate tax increase,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). “Ultimately, it’s a spending problem.”