Obama pushing for bipartisan agreement on fiscal cliff

The White House has said President Barack Obama is willing to continue bargaining for a bipartisan solution to avert the "fiscal cliff" after Republicans in the House of Representatives abandoned efforts to pass an alternative plan.

Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said on Thursday that Obama intends to work with Congress. He did not mention House Speaker John Boehner's failure to muster the votes for his so-called "Plan B".

Obama and his aides have been critical of Boehner's plan to raise tax rates on incomes above $1m, as it would not have raised the amount of revenue that Obama has demanded.

Carney denounced the Republican plan, calling it a "multi-day exercise in futility".

"It's an exercise in Republican vote-counting that will not result in anything for the American people," Carney said.

In a brief statement on Thursday, Boehner said the bill "did not have sufficient support from our members to pass" and that it is now it is up to the president to work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff".

The clock is ticking toward a deadline at the end of the year (fiscal cliff), when harsh tax increases and spending cuts will kick in if talks fall apart. These measures will likely push the US economy into recession.

"While the White House slow-walks us all to the edge of the fiscal cliff, Republicans are once again taking action to protect American families, our economy, and our national security," Boehner's office said.

"At some point the Senate has to act. They failed to act. We have a bill sitting at the desk in the Senate that protects all Americans from an increase in taxes. They can take up that bill sitting at the desk, they could pass it, they can amend it and they could help move the process.

But, to date, they have done nothing," Boehner said at press conference on Thursday.

Republicans complain that Obama has not done enough to promise spending cuts to rein in the deficit and hoped Plan B would have force him to offer more.

The two sides are also still at odds on taxes. The White House wants taxes to rise on household incomes above $400,000 a year, a concession from Obama's opening proposal for a $250,000 income threshold, while Boehner's plan aims at income over $1m.