fiscal cliff

Whether negotiated in a rush before the new year or left for early January, the fiscal deal President Barack Obama and Congress cobble together will be far smaller than what they initially envisioned as an alternative to purposefully distasteful tax increases and spending cuts.

Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were still in disarray as lawmakers returned to the Capitol to confront the tax-and-spend crisis.

Senate leaders are rushing to assemble a last-ditch agreement to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of postelection gridlock.

President Barack Obama is urging Congress to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, saying the nation "can't afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy."

President Barack Obama says "the hour for immediate action is here" on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff.

Stocks fell for a fifth day on concern that Washington lawmakers will fail to reach a budget deal before a self-imposed year-end deadline.

Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.

Amid partisan bluster, top members of Congress and President Barack Obama were holding out slim hopes for a limited fiscal deal before the new year. But even as congressional leaders prepared to convene at the White House, there were no signs that legislation palatable to both sides was taking shape.

The stock market erased most of an early loss in late trading after Republicans said they would reconvene the House of Representatives Sunday in hopes of piecing together a last-minute budget deal.

President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Thursday from a vacation shortened by government gridlock while congressional Democrats and Republicans snarled across a partisan divide without evidence of compromise on a year-end "fiscal cliff" that threatened across-the-board tax increases and cuts to government programs.