Obama, congressional leaders set White House meeting on fiscal cliff The U.S. Capitol Building is seen in Washington, DC. File/UPI/Kevin Dietsch WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Obama will meet with leaders of Congress to try to avert tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect next week, a White House official said. Citing an administration official it did not identify, Politico reported Thursday the White House meeting has been set for Friday. The report came as House Republicans said they will call the House back into session Sunday to deal with the so-called fiscal cliff, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., took to the Senate floor to accuse House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, of operating a "dictatorship." "The American people I don't think understand, the House of Representatives is operating without the House of Representatives," Reid said. It's being operated with a dictatorship of the Speaker, not allowing the vast majority of the House of Representatives to get what they want. Reid accused Boehner of being more concerned about preserving his speakership than dealing with the issue, and blasted Boehner for sending House Republicans home for Christmas with the issue far from unresolved and no schedule for their return to Capitol Hill. A short time after Reid's broadside, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., tweeted the House would be back into session Sunday night, little more than a day before Bush-era tax cuts and deep spending cuts are scheduled to kick in. Obama cut short his Hawaiian vacation and returned to Washington early Thursday. White House officials told reporters aboard Air Force One the president, while in Hawaii, called Boehner, Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. House Republicans said Wednesday Reid must move forward a bill to avert the so-called fiscal cliff or else he would be derelict in his duties, The Hill and Politico reported. Reid said even if Boehner agreed to have a vote extending the Bush tax rates for incomes up to $250,000 -- as Democrats have demanded -- legislation might not make it through Congress in time to prevent tax hikes from beginning next year. The tax cuts, which have been extended several times, are to expire at the same time across-the-board spending cuts imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 take effect -- pushing the economy over the so-called fiscal cliff economists say could throw the U.S. economy into recession.