U.S. President Barack Obama was discussing with top congressional leaders in the White House to find possible solutions to the looming "fiscal cliff" on Friday afternoon, their last-ditch effort to avert the massive tax increases and steep government spending cuts starting on Jan. 1.

Obama hosted the bipartisan leadership of the Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the White House said in a statement.

Obama cut short of his vacation in Hawaii and flew back to the White House Thursday, with the hope of reviving the stalled fiscal negotiations. Obama on Wednesday made phone calls to congressional leaders to get an update on the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

Unless U.S. Congress acts by the end of the year, a combination of tax increases and sweeping spending cuts totaling about 600 billion dollars will kick in, the effects of which could thrust the economy back into recession.

Obama last week called on Congress to pass a pared-down deficit reduction plan of extending the current tax rates for all but the rich and extending the nation's unemployment benefits. Endi

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