AHL’s TOP STORY: Obama, Boehner Exchange New Fiscal Cliff Proposals

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) exchanged new offers to avoid looming mandated spending cuts under sequestration, but the offers brought them no closer to an agreement, the Washington Post reports (Montgomery/Kane, Washington Post, 12/11).

The White House’s proposal — delivered to Boehner on Monday — lowered its request for new tax revenue from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion over a decade, according to a senior administration official (Wasson, “On The Money,” The Hill, 12/11). The Post reports that the administration has “backed away” from a plan to shift Medicaid costs to the states, which White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said amounted to “a very small percentage of the provisions” included in the proposal (Washington Post, 12/11).

Republicans responded yesterday with a counteroffer that called for the same $800 billion in new tax revenue included in the GOP’s initial proposal (“On The Money,” The Hill, 12/11).

Officials from the Obama administration and Republican leaders refused to provide details on the GOP’s latest offer. However, according to Republican aides, the latest counteroffer was virtually identical to the proposal Obama rejected last week.

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