US House Speaker John Boehner says "fiscal cliff" talks have made no substantive progress.

Following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Boehner accused Democrats of failing to budget on specific spending cuts. He said Republicans were willing to endorse higher tax revenues, as long as the deal also included savings from government welfare programs, like Medicare.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has insisted on extending nearly all expiring tax cuts.

Boehner and other Republicans say such a measure would harm the economy. If Congress fails to reach a compromise before the deadline, the budget will get steep, across-the-board cuts in January.

The Congressional Budget Office believes those cuts would cause the US economy to lose more than half a trillion dollars within nine months and possibly send the country into another recession.

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