John Boehner

The "fiscal cliff" talks are at a partisan standoff.

House Speaker John Boehner has proposed raising top rates for earners making more than $1 million, a person familiar with the negotiations says.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner held a "frank" meeting lasting nearly an hour Thursday night, aides to both men said. Boehner returned to the Capitol without public comment, and the aides would not discuss whether the negotiating session at the White House resulted in progress to avoid the looming "fiscal cliff."

House Speaker John Boehner says the White House is so resistant to cutting spending that it is risking pushing the country off the "fiscal cliff."

A leading conservative who's resigning from the Senate is predicting that President Barack Obama will win the battle over raising taxes.

Talks between the White House and House Speaker John Boehner  on a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" continue out of the public eye.

Despite an intensifying pace, little progress is being reported in talks on averting automatic spending cuts and tax increases that economists fear could send the U.S. economy off a "fiscal cliff."

For the first time in days, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner spoke by phone Wednesday about the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to knock the economy into recession, raising the prospect of fresh negotiations to prevent tax increases and spending cuts set to kick in with the new year.

President Barack Obama is urging Congress to pass an extension of tax cuts for middle class families, saying a tax increase for them would be like a "lump of coal" for Christmas.

Republican congressional leaders are accusing Democrats of moving the nation closer to the "fiscal cliff," by refusing to outline possible spending cuts.