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Open to compromise in talks on fiscal cliff: Obama

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1 of 5. U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement on the U.S. ''Fiscal Cliff'' in the East Room of the White House in Washington, November 9, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 9, 2012 2:05pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday invited congressional leaders to the White House to start negotiating a deal to prevent sharp tax hikes and spending cuts from going into effect at the end of the year and said he was "open to compromise."

"I'm open to new ideas," he said in his first White House appearance since defeating Republican Mitt Romney in Tuesday's election. "I'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges, but I refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced." He again pushed for higher taxes for wealthier Americans.

If Congress and the administration don't act, the abrupt fiscal tightening would tip the weak economy into recession, analysts have said. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this week unemployment could rise above 9 percent year if nothing is done to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal)
Politics
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Comments (8)
Yamayoko wrote:
He lays out his red lines and swings the ball onto repub’s court, awaiting GOPs to hit it wide and blow things up. Don’t blame on me strategy will work for Obama or not ?

Nov 09, 2012 2:14pm EST  --  Report as abuse
Robert76 wrote:
Not sure why anyone expected Boehner to behave any differently. He and the Party of No spent 4 years getting in the way rather than compromising with the President. Now they are back to their same old tricks. Guess we dide not vote enough of them out of office. Maybe in two years we can fix that error, and finally have a functioning government. The President cannot get a compromise all by himself, as it takes two sides to compromise. Wake up Boehner and McConnell. Your postering is damaging this country.

Nov 09, 2012 2:36pm EST  --  Report as abuse
americanguy wrote:
The only compromise the Republicans will accept is the same tax welfare for the wealthy, or even more welfare for the wealthy.
Crying man Boner already said so.
This time President Obama will NOT back down.
I would rather have my taxes increased. than see one more day of tax welfare for the wealthy who live off of me. If it means hitting me with more income taxes to make the wealthy stop getting tax welfare, so be it.

Nov 09, 2012 2:42pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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