Boehner downbeat on cliff talks John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, warned that there was a "real danger" of the US economy falling over the fiscal cliff as he lamented "no substantive progress" in the past two weeks of talks with the White House. After speaking on the phone with Barack Obama, US president, on Wednesday night and holding a "frank" and "direct" meeting with Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, on Thursday, Mr Boehner said Democrats "have yet to get serious about real spending cuts." Mr Boehner and other Republicans in Congress had demanded a detailed plan on curbing the cost of health and pension programmes from Mr Geithner at Thursday's meeting but suggested that none materialised. I'm disappointed in where we are. I'm disappointed in what's happened," said Mr Boehner, though he said he remained hopeful that discussions would be more fruitful in the coming days. Thursday's round of talks in Congress had the potential to jolt the negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff - a mix of spending cuts and tax increases due to hit the US economy a little more than a month from now, probably plunging it into recession. Mr Boehner did say that the basic framework of a deal - with a down payment on deficit reduction through revenue increases and spending cuts followed by broader fiscal reform next year - had been settled. But Republicans have said that further progress would only be made if the White House did not just to press its agenda for higher taxes on the rich, but also proposed some accompanying reforms of large government healthcare and pension schemes. "Until now, the White House has preferred talking points and an appeal to the hard left to a serious discussion about how we fix the economy, reduce the federal debt, and return the country to a path of growth and prosperity for all," he added. Mr McConnell was scheduled to meet Mr Geithner in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Democrats shot back, with Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, saying that Republicans had only proposed "happy talk" when it came to increasing revenue. "We're still waiting for a serious offer from the Republicans," said Mr Reid, following his own meeting with Mr Geithner, who was accompanied on Capitol Hill by Rob Nabors, a senior White House official and fiscal negotiator. As well as Mr Boehner, the pair from the Obama administration met other House Republicans including Paul Ryan, the party's vice-presidential nominee this year, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, and Dave Camp, the chairman of the tax-writing ways and means committee. On Wednesday, both Mr Obama and Mr Boehner had sounded more optimistic about the prospects for a deal to be struck in time, contributing to a rebound in US equity markets as investors were encouraged by their confidence. But in his speech on Thursday morning, Mr McConnell sounded in no mood to accept higher tax rates on the rich, which he called "the holy grail of liberalism."