Obama seems determined to drive the bus off the fiscal cliff...

House Republican leaders released their deficit reduction plan today.

Via WaPo:

House Republican leaders on Monday endorsed a far-reaching plan to rein in the national debt that that would raise $800 billion in new tax revenue, slice $600 billion from federal health programs and apply a stingier measure of inflation to Social Security benefits.
In a letter to President Obama, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other senior Republicans suggested that the framework – first laid out by Democrat Erskine Bowles during last year’s budget battles – should serve as a starting point for budget talks aimed at averting the year-end fiscal cliff.

“With the fiscal cliff nearing, our priority remains finding a reasonable solution that can pass both the House and the Senate, and be signed into law in the next couple of weeks,” the letter says. “The best way to do this is by learning from and building on the bipartisan discussion that have occurred [earlier in] this Congress.”

The framework serves as a counter-offer to the plan Obama laid on the table last week, essentially a reprise of his most recent budget request. While both frameworks would reduce borrowing by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, Obama’s proposal would raise $1.6 trillion in fresh revenue – double the GOP plan – and produce only about $350 billion in savings from Medicaid and Medicare, the biggest drivers of future borrowing. [...]

Obama promptly rejected it...

WASHINGTON — White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer rejected Speaker of the House John Boehner’s counter-proposal to avert the fiscal cliff in a statement to reporters Monday afternoon.

“The Republican letter released today does not meet the test of balance,” Pfeiffer said. “In fact, it actually promises to lower rates for the wealthy and sticks the middle class with the bill. Their plan includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare savings they would achieve.”

President Barack Obama has pledged to oppose any agreement that does not raise tax rates on the top two percent of wage-earners.