Top US Republican lawmaker to hold press conference shortly

Top Republican lawmaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 2:15 p.m. (1915 GMT) on Wednesday, a congressional aide said, where he is expected to respond to White House calls to move quickly to resolve the year-end fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax hikes.

Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, is pushing a bill that would extend low tax rates except on income of $1 million and above.