President Obama on Tuesday said party leaders "will not be able to get a deal" to avert the so-called fiscal cliff unless Republicans agree to raise tax rates on high earners.
"The issue right now, that is relevant, is the acknowledgement that if we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with the very tough cuts that we have already made, and the further reforms in entitlements that I'm prepared to make, then we are going back to see the rates on the top two percent go up," he told Bloomberg News reporter Julianna Goldman.
Goldman’s parents donated thousands of dollars to the president’s reelection campaign. Her mother, Barbara, served as co-chair for Obama’s Jewish Community Leadership team in 2008.
The White House promptly rejected an offer from House Republicans on Monday, which included $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform, along with $1.4 trillion in spending cuts and other reforms.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), who signed on to the GOP offer, said Tuesday that negotiations had hit a wall.
"We’re nowhere. We’re farther than where we started," he said.