"House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, who conferred with President Barack Obama by phone, speaks during a news conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington following a closed-door meeting with the GOP caucus. Boehner and the other House Republican leaders are calling for Obama to come up with plan they can accept for spending cuts and tax revenue to avoid the so-called ""fiscal cliff"" of automatic tax hikes and budget reductions. (ASSOCIATED PRESS / J. Scott Applewhite)"