Fiscal cliff efforts ongoing, Boehner offers plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner pushed ahead on negotiating a broad deal to avert the "fiscal cliff," even as the GOP leader readied a backup plan today to pressure the White House with little time left to avoid a double hit on the economy.

With exactly two weeks to automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, Boehner offered a measure, dubbed "plan B," that would cancel tax increases due to take effect Jan. 1 on everyone earning $1 million or less, while allowing tax increases on those earning more than that amount.

Boehner insisted that his plan would address the burgeoning deficits, and that the president has failed to produce a balance plan in weeks of post-election negotiations.

But the speaker's alternative was a nonstarter with the White House and Democrats, and perhaps more damaging to its prospects, got a frosty reception from rank-and-file House Republicans in a morning closed-door meeting.