Senators lower expectations for fiscal deal, trade blame Top Democratic and Republican senators said Sunday that Washington still can reach a deal to avert the looming fiscal crisis by Jan. 1, but the two sides still appeared miles apart in reaching a solution as they continued to blame each other. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the chamber's third-highest-ranking Republican, said he thinks President Obama wants negotiations to fail, which would result in a roughly $500 billion mix of tax increases and federal spending cuts over the next year. They met Friday before the president went on vacation and before Congress adjourned until after Christmas Day. The meeting occurred one day after Boehner scrapped a House vote on a plan to increase taxes only for families earning more than $1 million annually. That plan didn't have enough support to pass, Boehner admitted. The president's last offer was to raise tax rates for only taxpayers making $400,000 a year or more, or roughly the top 1 percent. Under that plan, income earned below that threshold still would be taxed at the lower Bush-era rates, and someone making just over $400,000 would see a relatively small tax increase. But on Friday, Obama offered a stripped-down version of his plan, suggesting that both sides agree on no tax increases for families making $250,000 or less and extending unemployment benefits, then negotiating on spending cuts after New Year's. North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told Fox that accepting a bare-bones plan might be the only solution, with the deadline just nine days away, "but we can do better."