GOP Demands Obama Specifics Regarding “Fiscal Cliff”

Republicans are again demanding that President Barack Obama name specific cuts in government spending that he would support as part of any compromise aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff."

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell says Obama seems to think that if he only talks about taxes, Americans will "forget that government spending is completely out of control." McConnell says there are plenty of programs worth cutting, saying taxpayers "just spent $325,000 on a robotic squirrel named RoboSquirrel."

The White House responds that it made an offer with "very specific" cuts -- including more than $300 billion in proposed Medicare savings, and another $250 billion in non-health benefit programs.

House Speaker John Boehner says Republicans have offered a plan that's "consistent with the president's call for a balanced approach." And he says he's waiting for the White House to do the same.

Meanwhile, the White House is coming under renewed pressure from within his own party, as liberal Democratic senators warn him against cutting the Medicaid health care program. They say cuts in the program that covers nearly 60 million low-income and disabled people shouldn't be accepted as a trade-off with Republicans in exchange for higher income tax rates on the highest earners.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press