SHOTLIST:POOL NO RESTRICTIONWashington, DC 12/12/12Location - Date1. SOUNDBITE: Rep. John Boehner/R-Speaker of the HouseAs of today, the president's plan to avert the fiscal cliff still does not meet the 2 standards that I laid out the day after the election. His plan does not not fulfill his promise to bring a balanced approach to solving this problem. It's mainly tax hikes. And his plan does not begin to solve our debt crisis. It actually increases spending. Our plan meets these standards. It cuts spending and paves the way for real job growth in our country. In the five weeks since we've signalled our willingness to forge an agreement with the president, he's never put forth a plan that meets these standards and frankly that's why we don't have an agreement today. The longer the White House slow walks this discussion, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff and the more American jobs are placed in jeopardy.STORYLINE:Despite an intensifying pace, little progress is being reported in talks on averting automatic spending cuts and tax increases that economists fear could send the U.S. economy off a "fiscal cliff." House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama spoke on the phone Tuesday, a day after the president offered to reduce his initial demand for $1.6 trillion in higher tax revenue over a decade to $1.4 trillion. But Obama continued to insist that much of the revenue come from raising top tax rates on the wealthy. Boehner countered later Tuesday with another offer that aides to the Ohio Republican said stuck close to a document delivered to the White House a week ago. A top White House aide, Rob Nabors, came to the Capitol to respond. Leading lawmakers expressed pessimism that a deal was close, despite increasing angst about a Dec. 31 deadline to stop the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and separate across-the-board spending cuts that are the result of Washington's failure to complete a deficit-reduction deal last year. "I think it's getting worse, not better," House GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said. The Boehner camp again said it's up to the White House to proffer additional spending cuts to programs like Medicare. The White House countered that Republicans still need to cave on raising tax rates for the rich. "Where are the president's spending cuts?" Boehner said on the House floor. "The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff." In rebuttal, the White House swiftly detailed numerous proposals Obama has made to cut spending, including recommendations to cull $340 billion from Medicare over a decade and an additional $250 billion from other government benefit programs.(****END****)