Obama threatens to veto Boehner's Plan B Barack Obama, US president, and John Boehner, Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, traded jabs as negotiations to avert the looming fiscal cliff stalled after hopes rose of a compromise. At a press conference in Washington, Mr Obama said he had gone "at least half way" in meeting Republican demands, and said the US "deserved" a compromise ahead of Christmas in light of the hardships the nation had recently faced, including superstorm Sandy and the mass shooting in Connecticut last week. What separates us is probably a few hundred billion dollars. The idea that we would put our economy at risk because you can't bridge that gap doesn't make a lot of sense," Mr Obama said. It is there for all to see. It is a deal that can get done," he added. The statement came as the White House warned it would block a bill backed by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to extend Bush-era income tax cuts for all except those earning more than $1m. That legislation, intended as a fallback option in case talks with Mr Obama fail while also marking an effort by Mr Boehner to bolster his own negotiating position, is due for a vote on Thursday. Mr Boehner responded to the veto threat in a terse statement to reporters. "I hope the president will get serious soon about providing and working with us on a balanced approach," Mr Boehner said in remarks that lasted less than a minute. Then the president will have this decision to make: he can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history. As tempers frayed, with 13 days left before the US is hit by a wave of automatic spending cuts and tax rises that could tip the economy into recession, concerned business groups held a private meeting with Jack Lew, the White House chief of staff, to discuss the talks. Fitch, the ratings agency, said Wednesday that the fiscal cliff could cause the US to lose its triple A rating if a deal is not struck and is "the single biggest, near-term threat to the world economy." Over the past week, substantial progress was made towards a deficit reduction deal that would include more than $1tn in new tax revenue and $1tn in new spending cuts, with both Mr Obama and Mr Boehner making key concessions. But the two sides failed to make much progress in the drive to finalise the agreement over the past two days, wasting precious time. Mr Boehner's push for the so-called "Plan B" vote helped stall the talks and shifted attention to how much support the speaker gets from his own Republican rank-and-file members on Thursday. On the eve of the vote, Mr Boehner's "Plan B" clinched the critical endorsement of Paul Ryan, the former vice-presidential nominee and chairman of the budget committee, as well as anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who argued that the proposal was consistent with his "no tax" pledge because its sole purpose was to prevent automatic tax increases next year if no action is taken by Congress. But the Club for Growth, another influential conservative anti-tax group, said it was recommending opposition to "Plan B." Mr Norquist's support opens the door to the possibility that the influential conservative could come out in favour of a broader deal between Mr Boehner and Mr Obama, because the tax increases included in a "grand bargain" would similarly avoid wider ranging tax rises on Americans. One conservative activist who staunchly opposes Mr Boehner's plan and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that while it was not certain Mr Norquist would give his blessing to such a deal, he most likely would if it looked like a majority of Republicans would support it. Mr Obama said deficit hawks in the Republican party had reason to welcome the deal he has offered, which the president said went further than agreements in the past to right the nation's fiscal course. They will be able to claim that they have worked with me to reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package . . . That is a significant achievement for them," said Mr Obama. He addressed the political challenges facing Mr Boehner, his negotiating partner, and said he "recognised" that rank-and-file legislators on the right came from districts he lost in November's election. "I'm not trying to rub their face in anything," Mr Obama said. "If this week has done anything it should give us some perspective . . . about what is important."" The president repeated that he would not allow an increase in the US borrowing authority to become a negotiating point in the broader discussions because of the damage the debt ceiling fight had on the US economy last year.