SHOTLIST:Pool- AP Clients OnlyWashington - Dec. 271. SOUNDBITE: Sen. Mitch McCOnnell - Minority Leader:republicans have bent over backwards, we've stepped way, way out of our comfort zone. We wanted an agreement. But we had no takers, the phone never rang, so here we are five days from the New Year and we might finally start talking.STORYLINE:President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Thursday from a vacation shortened by government gridlock while congressional Democrats and Republicans snarled across a partisan divide without evidence of compromise on a year-end "fiscal cliff" that threatened across-the-board tax increases and cuts to government programs. Adding to the woes confronting the middle class was a pending spike of $2-per-gallon or more in milk prices if lawmakers failed to pass farm legislation by year's end. White House aides disputed reports that Obama was sending lawmakers a scaled-down plan to avoid the "fiscal cliff," and gave no indication whether he would invite congressional leaders to a White House meeting either later Thursday or possibly on Friday. A little more than four days from the deadline, there was no legislation pending in either the House or the Senate to stave off tax increases and spending cuts that economists say could send the economy into a recession. Far from conciliatory, the rhetoric was confrontational and at times unusually personal. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused House Speaker John Boehner of running a dictatorship, citing his refusal to call a vote on legislation to keep taxes steady for most while letting them rise at upper incomes. The bill "would pass overwhelmingly," Reid predicted, and said the Ohio Republican won't change his mind because he fears it might cost him re-election as speaker when the new Congress convenes next week. Boehner seems "to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing," he said in remarks on the Senate floor.