Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) predicted Sunday that tax rates for the wealthy will likely go up next year. 
 
 Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Simpson, a co-chairman of the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission, said he and Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton White House chief of staff and the panel’s other co-chairman, believe taxes will go up for the rich. 
 
 “I think Erskine and I both agree that if anybody out there who is, quote, rich doesn’t think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me, I’ll cover it,” Simpson said. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Bowles, however, noted that raising taxes on the wealthy wouldn’t be enough to bring down the nation’s deficit. 
 
 “Even if you raise the top rates back to the Clinton rates, that only creates $400 billion over 10 years. That’s $40 billion a year. We got a trillion-dollar-a-year deficit. That alone won’t solve the problem,” Bowles said. 
 
 Bowles said spending cuts must be made in order to bring down the debt. 
 
 “We have to slow the rate of growth of healthcare to the rate of growth of the economy,” Bowles said. 
 
 The deficit hawks are both worried over the impact from going over the “fiscal cliff” — a set of massive tax increases and budget cuts that will go into effect early next year unless Congress acts. Bowles said going over the cliff entails possible layoffs, estimating 2 million people could lose their jobs and the unemployment rate could climb to 9 percent. 
 
 “I think this would be a disaster to go over the cliff,” Bowles said. 
 
 Simpson lambasted lawmakers in both parties who argue going over the fiscal cliff would be politically advantageous for their respective parties. 
 
 “There’s something terribly bizarre and juvenile about that. To think your party comes ahead of your country, I don’t go for that at all,” Simpson said. 
 
 Bowles remains optimistic about a deal getting done, however. 
 
 “I’m a little more encouraged than if you would have asked me about it a week ago,” Bowles said. “They have started to tango now and any time you got two guys in there tangoing, you got a chance to get it done.” ||||| WASHINGTON | 
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chief executives from corporations such as Goldman Sachs and Deloitte LLP met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday and offered support for resolving U.S. fiscal problems with an approach that included higher tax rates for wealthy Americans. 
 
 Some fourteen business chiefs from companies such as Yahoo Inc, Comcast Corp, and Marriott International Inc met with Obama at the White House to discuss solutions to the "fiscal cliff" - a series of tax hikes and spending cuts that will go into effect next year if lawmakers and the president cannot come up with a deal to stop them. 
 
 Obama's outreach to business was meant to garner support for his proposal to extend tax cuts for middle income earners, while raising them for households making more than $250,000 a year. 
 
 Republicans oppose raising tax rates, saying that would hurt job growth at a time of still high unemployment. 
 
 Executives who attended the meeting said leaders from both sides needed to compromise, and they indicated backing for an increase in rates for high earners like themselves. 
 
 "The president and his team were resoundingly reasonable in what they had to say. They came into the meeting wanting to communicate that revenue increases are a significant part of a deal, but not the only part of a deal, and that they were also committed to an entitlement reform and spending focus," said Marriott Chief Executive Arne Sorenson. 
 
 "I think generally people had the view that, if it's balanced, if there are revenue increases that are part of it, that's fine, but don't only talk about revenue increases. Make sure we're talking about both." 
 
 Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, speaking to CNN after the meeting, said he did not "preclude" tax rates rising for wealthy Americans to raise revenue and fight the federal budget deficit. 
 
 "I've said in the past that the numbers would drive you to more revenue," he said on CNN. "I think it's better to have as low a marginal rate as possible because the incentive is the marginal rate, but if we had to lift up the marginal rate I would do that." 
 
 Other executives slated to be at the meeting included AT&T; Inc CEO Randall Stephenson, Archer Daniels Midland Co chief Patricia Woertz, Coca-Cola Co chief Muhtar Kent, Caterpillar Inc's Doug Oberhelman, and Pfizer Inc's Ian Read. 
 
 A White House spokeswoman declined to discuss the meeting in detail. 
 
 Deloitte LLP Chief Executive Joe Echevarria said the executives agreed on the need for higher tax rates for the top tier of U.S. earners. 
 
 "There needs to be some revenue element to this, and (Obama) started with rates. And he started with rates on what we would define (as) the upper two percent. ... That we have to pay our fair share. And I think everybody was in agreement with that notion," he said. 
 
 Obama has not always had friendly relations with the business community, but Echevarria said the meeting was constructive. "The president clearly wanted to embrace business. ... He solicited input from all of us, and he took it all with open arms," he said. 
 
 Obama met with small business leaders on Tuesday and plans to visit a small business in Pennsylvania on Friday to showcase his proposals. 
 
 Corporate chief executives also met with leaders on Capitol Hill. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Paul Eckert; editing by Todd Eastham) ||||| By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter ) 
 
 NOTABLES: 
 
 WILL MORTGAGE DEDUCTIONS FALL OFF THE CLIFF? ABC will take a look at a handful of specific revenue sources as fiscal-cliff talks continue, and today ABC's Shushannah Walshe reports on the home-mortgage deduction: The mortgage deduction has been fiercely guarded until now, although it costs the government over $100 billion a year by most estimates, because of the sentimental attachment to it and the idea that it helps middle class families afford homes. While those who benefit from the deduction, including homeowners and people in the real estate industry, are passionate about keeping the deduction in place, others say it should be eliminated because it overwhelmingly helps the wealthy and those who can afford to buy a home already. http://abcn.ws/SG8Gal 
 
 CABINET SHUFFLE - GEITHNER ON HIS REPLACEMENT: With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrapping up his time in President Obama's cabinet, ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked him if banking executive Jamie Dimon - who has billionaire Warren Buffett's endorsement - should be named the next treasury secretary, but Geithner declined to answer directly. "The president's going choose somebody very talented to lead the Treasury for his next four years. And - I'm very fortunate I've been able to work with him to help solve these problems in the country over this period of time. And I'm very confident he's going have somebody in place - in January to succeed me," he said. http://abcn.ws/SDY0Jw 
 
 SEEKING ADELSON'S MILLIONS: Politico's Ken Vogel reports that the 2016 fundraising landscape is already taking shape: "A week after Election Day, three Republican governors mentioned as 2016 presidential candidates - Bobby Jindal, John Kasich and Bob McDonnell - each stopped by the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino to meet privately with its owner Sheldon Adelson, a man who could single-handedly underwrite their White House ambitions. Planning a presidential campaign used to mean having coffee with county party chairs in their Iowa or New Hampshire living rooms. The courting of Adelson, a full four years out from 2016, demonstrates how super PAC sugar daddies have become the new must-have feature for White House wannabes. … Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is meeting with big donors in Los Angeles this week and has a fundraiser scheduled for next Monday in the Washington suburbs. Vice President Joe Biden, Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) have been meeting with big donors, leaving the impression that they're ready to run." http://politi.co/TCHafq 
 
 WHITE HOUSE WATCH: Here's what's on the president's agenda today, courtesy of ABC's Mary Bruce: This afternoon President Obama meets with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria. Later, at 4 p.m. the president delivers on-camera remarks to the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction symposium. On the 20th anniversary of the CTR program, the president will note the progress that's been made in securing nuclear material, and thank Senators Nunn and Lugar for their leadership on these issues, according to the White House. 
 
 THE NOTE: 
 
 After a week when both Republicans and Democrats dug in in their heels on the fiscal cliff negotiations, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that the ball is "absolutely" in the GOP's court. 
 
 "We think we have a very good plan, a very good mix of tax reforms that raise a modest amount of revenue on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, combined with very comprehensive, very well designed, very detailed savings that get us back to the point where our debt is stable and sustainable," Geithner said of the proposal he presented to Republican leaders on Capitol Hill last week in a "This Week" interview. 
 
 Only problem is, Republicans say the Obama administration's proposal is about as far away from a "good plan" as you can get. 
 
 "I would say we're nowhere. Period," House Speaker John Boehner said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." "We've put a serious offer on the table by putting revenues up there to try to get this question resolved. But the White House has responded with virtually nothing." http://abcn.ws/VpplQj 
 
 So it may not be surprising that the GOP is considering what ABC's Jon Karl is calling a "Doomsday Plan" if fiscal cliff talks collapse entirely. 
 
 Here's Karl's latest reporting: 
 
 It's quite simple: House Republicans would allow a vote on extending the Bush middle class tax cuts (the bill passed in August by the Senate) and offer the president nothing more - no extension of the debt ceiling, nothing on unemployment, nothing on closing loopholes. Congress would recess for the holidays and the president would face a big battle early in the year over the debt ceiling. Two senior Republican elected officials say this Doomsday Plan is becoming the most likely scenario. A top GOP House leadership aide confirms the plan is under consideration, but says Speaker Boehner has made no decision on whether to pursue it. Under one variation of the plan, House Republicans would allow a vote on extending only the middle class tax cuts and Republicans, to express disapproval at the failure to extend all tax cuts, would vote "present" on the bill, allowing it to pass entirely on Democratic votes. By doing this, Republicans avoid taking blame for tax increases on 98 percent of income tax payers. As one senior Republican in Congress told me, "You don't take a hostage you aren't willing to shoot." Republicans aren't willing to kill the middle class tax cuts, even if extending them alone will make it harder to later extend tax cuts on the wealthy. Still unclear under this plan is what would happen to the automatic defense cuts - "sequestration" - scheduled to go into effect on January 1 without a deficit deal. During the campaign, the President promised the cuts would not happen. As part of the deal to allow the House vote on taxes, those automatic defense cuts could be put off for a year. 
 
 Watch Karl's "Good Morning America" report: http://abcn.ws/R0Y60R 
 
 PREDICTIONS: 
 
 -TIM GEITHNER ON 'THIS WEEK': "I actually think that we're going get there. I mean, you know, just inevitably going be a little political theater in this context," Geithner said, when asked whether Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell laughed after hearing President Obama's plan to avert the fiscal cliff. "Sometimes that's a sign of progress. Think we're actually making a little bit of progress, but we're still some distance apart." 
 
 -SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: "I think we're going over the cliff," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CBS's ""Face the Nation." On the Democrats' proposal: "This offer doesn't remotely deal with entitlement reform in a way to save Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security from imminent bankruptcy. It raises $1.6 trillion on job creators that will destroy the economy, and there were no spending controls." 
 
 "THIS WEEK" REWIND: 
 
 -GEITHNER: SOCIAL SECURITY OFF THE TABLE IN THESE TALKS. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that, while Social Security may need reforms, they shouldn't be part of the fiscal-cliff discussion. Geithner: "What the president is willing to do is work with Democrats and Republicans to strengthen Social Security for future generations. … But we think you have to do that in a separate process, so that our seniors aren't-don't face the concern that we're somehow going to find savings in Social Security benefits to help reduce the other deficits. … We are prepared to, in a separate process, look at how to strengthen Social Security, but not as part of a process to reduce the other deficits the country faces." WATCH: http://abcn.ws/YpFVFc 
 
 -COLE: REPUBLICANS DON'T NEED TO OFFER A PLAN YET. Rep. Tom Cole, who broke ranks with his party last week by suggesting House Republicans follow President Obama's proposal to immediately extend only lower-income tax rates, appeared on ABC's "This Week" roundtable, saying his party doesn't need a specific fiscal-cliff plan just yet. Cole: I don't think we need to put a formal proposal out on the table. The speaker has already said revenue is on the table. He has got an idea about how to get there in terms of not raises rates, but finding it in other ways through tax code reform. I think that makes a lot of sense, and that's a doable thing, but beyond that, you know, we'll wait and see how the negotiations go." WATCH: http://abcn.ws/YpHjYD 
 
 PRAISE FOR JAKE TAPPER'S 'THE OUTPOST.' With Republicans and Democrats divided on the fiscal cliff negotiations, one thing both sides seem to agree on is Jake Tapper's book, "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. (As a refresher, in the book Tapper explores one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan - the attack on Combat Outpost Keating by Taliban insurgents on the morning of October 3, 2009. Tapper's exposé closely examines the history of the camp and the heroic stories of these American soldiers and their families through first person accounts, photographs and extensive research.) http://www.tinyurl.com/OutpostBandN MSNBC's Rachel Maddow called it a "…very readable, very impressive, well reported book." Fox News' Sean Hannity said "…I love the book. And it's really terrific. Very well researched. You went to Afghanistan, you talked to all these guys, 250 people. And it's really well done." 
 
 @newtgingrich: Jake tappers the outpost is a remarkable story of modern war. I recommend it highly 
 
 @BeschlossDC: Read Jake Tapper's mesmerizing & important THE OUTPOST-essential to understand the astonishing modern experience of our soldiers in battle. 
 
 @Seth Meyers21: I highly recommend @jaketapper's new book "The Outpost." A great read from a great reporter. 
 
 @MikeBarnicle: Definition of a rewarding time: Spending the evening reading Jake Tapper's book "The Outpost." Buy it. 
 
 @samsteinhp: Just finished @jaketapper's The Outpost. Buy it. Great reporting, fantastic read. 
 
 @jdickerson: Congratulations to @jaketapper for his amazing book The Outpost. 
 
 THE BUZZ: 
 
 with ABC's Chris Good ( @c_good) 
 
 A TOUGHER POTUS. Comparing the president's fiscal-cliff posturing to his past methods in fiscal negotiation, The New York Times' Peter Baker writes: "His approach is born of painful experience. In his first four years in office, Mr. Obama has repeatedly offered what he considered compromises on stimulus spending, health care and deficit reduction to Republicans, who either rejected them as inadequate or pocketed them and insisted on more. Republicans argued that Mr. Obama never made serious efforts at compromise and instead lectured them about what they ought to want rather than listening to what they did want." http://nyti.ms/TD6guO 
 
 OBAMA: GOP HOLDING TAX-CUTS 'HOSTAGE.' In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Obama warned that it's "unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans," ABC's Mary Bruce reports. http://abcn.ws/TGPIiu 
 
 THE CLIFF SKEPTICS. Bloomberg's Julie Hirschfield Davis reports: "[A] small and potentially influential group of lawmakers in both parties is emerging as fiscal-cliff skeptics, willing-and some even arguing-to take the dive. … Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the leadership, said her side is willing to push the debate into 2013 if Republicans refuse to raise taxes on high earners as part of the deal. … The doubters' caucus remains small, as most lawmakers are urging Republican leaders and Obama to reach an agreement and avoid sending yet another shock to the fragile economic recovery." http://bloom.bg/UBDag0 
 
 WHY GROVER NORQUIST STILL CONTROLS THE GOP. The Washington Post's Peter Wallsten reports: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), for example, might have seemed a perfect illustration of the trend away from Norquist's hard-line views when he said recently that policies backed by Norquist would lead to more debt. … But five days later, on the phone with Norquist, Chambliss was sounding a conciliatory tone. As Norquist read aloud a transcript of Chambliss's earlier remarks, item by item, Norquist recalled later, the senator repeatedly assured him on each one that he did not mean to imply they had major differences when it came to GOP principles on taxes. 'He said he'd wished he hadn't invoked my name and wished that he'd been clearer,' Norquist recalled from the Monday conversation." http://wapo.st/UkdS3D 
 
 J.C. WATTS FOR RNC CHAIR? With the Republican National Committee set to vote whether to retain chairman Reince Priebus in January, Politico's John Bresnahan reports: Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts says he is being "encouraged" by supporters to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee, a move he says could broaden the party's appeal to minorities. Watts is not formally entering the race, and he is not critical of current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who has already announced he will second term in the post." http://politi.co/VfWbRu 
 
 MORE ON ADELSON'S MILLIONS: WHAT HE SPENT ON 2012. How much did billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a megadonor to GOP super PACs, spend trying to defeat President Obama in 2012? Peter H. Stone reports at Huffington Post: "Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend as much as $100 million to defeat President Barack Obama and help the GOP take control of Congress. According to two GOP fundraisers with close ties to the Las Vegas billionaire, he made good on that promise - and then some. Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said." http://huff.to/TD1w8g 
 
 WOMEN IN POWER: TOP STATES. ABC's Jilian Fama reports: This year, 1,773 women will be taking the oath of office to serve in their states' legislative bodies. In January, after they are sworn in, women will make up 24 percent of all state legislatures - and the number may grow because four state legislative races with at least one female candidate in the running remain undecided. Colorado is leading the pack with the highest percentage of female legislators serving. In 2013, Colorado will have 41.5 percent state House representatives who are female (27 female out of 65 total) and 40 percent state Senate members (14 out of 35). Thirty are Democrats and 11 are Republican. Other states leading in female representation are Vermont, Arizona and Hawaii. http://abcn.ws/QBDVFn 
 
 SECOND TIME'S THE CHARM FOR CONGRESSIONAL HOPEFULS? "Running for Congress? The second time might be the charm," Roll Call's Shira Toeplitz reports. "Just ask recent victors such as Reps.-elect Garland "Andy" Barr IV, R-Ky., Ami Bera, D-Calif., and Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H. They defeated their respective opponents on the second try. There will be an entirely new landscape in 2014, and some November losers believe they might have a better shot in two years. If history is precedent, the midterm elections will provide more opportunities for the party not occupying the White House: Republicans. What's more, in two years, many Democrats won't be able to count on the boost of the president's effective turnout operation. Accordingly, more GOP losers than Democratic candidates are already mulling comeback bids for certain seats. But there are opportunities for Democrats in 2014 as well. Republicans controlled redistricting in most key states during the decennial mapmaking process. The GOP didn't release maps until late in the cycle, forcing last-minute campaigns for otherwise competitive seats." Read Roll Call's list of possible "two-timers": http://bit.ly/R0Si7P 
 
 OBAMA HOSTS KENNEDY CENTER HONOREES AT WHITE HOUSE. ABC's Matthew Larotonda reports on the black-tie event: Seven entertainment icons were hosted at the White House today for their contributions to the performing arts. Actor Dustin Hoffman, blues guitarist Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova, and comedian David Letterman were given a reception with the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin before the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala this evening. President Obama welcomed the performers before they were presented their awards at the event later in the evening. The president joked that the motley crew's presence continued "a tradition at the White house by honoring some extraordinary people with no business being on the same stage together." http://abcn.ws/SrHXyD 
 
 HILLARY AND MERYL. A photo of Hillary Clinton and actress Meryl Streep at the awards event is going viral, ABC's David Muir reported for "World News.' WATCH: http://abcn.ws/SGgngV 
 
 CONSTITUTION WAITS FOR NO MAN'S INAUGURATION. Thanks to a calendar quirk, President Obama's second inauguration will come in two parts, ABC's Ann Compton reports: [T]he traditional parade with its bands and floats will not march on January 20th, the day the Constitution requires the President to be sworn in. That falls on a Sunday this time so by tradition there will only be a small Sunday ceremony for the oath-taking at noon. This calendar clash happens every few decades. For Ronald Reagan's second swearing in in 1985, a brief ceremony was held in the Grand Foyer on the state floor of the White House at 12 noon on Jan. 20, with a group of invited guests. It was televised live. But the parties and parades had to wait 24 hours. http://abcn.ws/RwauG7 
 
 OBAMA PLAYS GOLF WITH CLINTON. President Obama sought Bill Clinton's help the last time the Bush tax cuts were set to expire, huddle with the former president at the White House and ultimately handing him the podium at a press briefing in December 2010. ABC's Matthew Larotonda reports, Obama played golf with Clinton, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and former Clinton aide/current Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe yesterday. 
 
 IN THE NOTE'S INBOX: 
 
 -MOVE ON MEMBERS CHIP IN TO PUT ELIZABETH WARREN IN SENATE BANKING POST. MoveOn.org members have contributed nearly $150,000 since last Wednesday Nov. 28 to stop the banking lobby's attempts to keep Elizabeth Warren off the Senate Banking Committee, according to a spokesperson for the group. Members received an e-mail fundraising petition saying, "Elizabeth Warren hasn't even been sworn in yet. She hasn't hired most of her staff. And already Wall Street lobbyists are scrambling to cut her off at the knees by keeping her off the Senate Banking Committee. According to multiple sources, Wall Street 'has been going nuts' to keep her off the committee.1 And it's not hard to see why. She's an expert on the issues. She has no conflicts of interest. She's PERFECT." Move On plans to use the money raised from what they are calling the "emergency campaign" to rally their members and run ads in support of Warren. Notably, Move On members raised more than $1 million to help elect her, the group said. 
 
 WHO'S TWEETING? 
 
 @edatpost: Welcome to the @twitter: @pontifex, better known as Pope Benedict XVI 
 
 @bethreinhard: Marco Rubio: Climate-change denying, evolution-questioning, Senate Science Committee member http://njour.nl/Ub7U2K 
 
 @HowardKurtz: Obama's Hashtag Army: A look at the president's use of Twitter and #My2K as an organizing tool in fiscal cliff battle http://bit.ly/UBANty 
 
 @ezraklein: . @jeffreygoldberg makes the case for Susan Rice as Secretary of State, and has a very amusing first paragraph: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/11/why-susan-rice-would-be-a-plausible-secretary-of-state/265636/ … 
 
 @brianstelter: NYT publisher announces he's asked newsroom to "identify significant cost savings - including buyouts - throughout The NYT Media Group." ||||| One of the namesakes of America's best-known debt-cutting plan, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, said Sunday he sees signs of progress towards a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff the nation faces at the end of the year. 
 
 "I'm a little more encouraged than I would have been if you'd asked me about it a week ago," Bowles said on CBS's "Face The Nation. "I think we've made some progress [last] week." 
 
 "They've started to tango there and any time you've got two guys in there tangoing you've got a chance to get it done," Bowles said, referring to President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). 
 
 Bowles, who co-chaired a deficit reduction commission with former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), credited both the president and the speaker with helping to lay groundwork for a possible deal to stop the tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in at the end of the month. 
 
 Bowles said Obama has insisted on higher tax rates for the wealthy, but has also indicated a willingness to consider entitlement costs. 
 
 Bowles also praised Boehner for not including potential deal breakers in his recent proposal. 
 
 "I think this is a speaker who really gets it," Bowles said. "If you look at the offer he made last week, that offer doesn't mention a thing about block granting Medicaid. It doesn't have a word about premium supports. It doesn't have anything in there about those deep cuts in income support programs. So, I think that advances the ball." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, John Boehner, Taxes, Deficit, Debt, Bowles Simpson Deficit Commission, Erskine Bowles, Fiscal Cliff ||||| 6 years ago 
 
 (CNN) – Republican lawmakers said Sunday they believe President Barack Obama wants the country to fall off the fiscal cliff for political purposes. 
 
 “I think he sees a political victory at the bottom of the cliff. He gets all this additional tax revenue for new programs. He gets to cut the military, which Democrats have been calling for for years and he gets to blame Republicans for it,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming said on “Fox News Sunday.” 
 
 
 
 His sentiment was shared by Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina. 
 
 “I believed from the very beginning and continue to believe that the president has no interest at all in not going over the cliff,” Mulvaney told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.” “He wants to go over the cliff. Everything I've looked at and seen out of the White House.” 
 
 It’s a point Sen. Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, took issue with on Fox. 
 
 “This conversation to me is exactly what’s wrong in Washington,” Conrad countered. “It’s he said, she said, blame the other guy.” 
 
 But it’s this type of partisan back and fourth which has fiscal cliff negotiations stalled and has put the country on the precipice of a potential economic crisis. 
 
 Still, Barrasso said there’s time yet for a breakthrough when both Congress and the president return to Washington after the Christmas holiday. 
 
 “I don’t want us to go over the cliff, I want to find a solution,” Barrasso said. “I think there’s still time. We’re coming back here on the 27th.” 
 
 December 27th that is - leaving lawmakers just five days for negotiations before the country falls off the fiscal cliff. 
 
 Watch State of the Union with Candy Crowley Sundays at 9am ET. For the latest from State of the Union click here. ||||| In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, President Barack Obama tells David Gregory he's optimistic the fiscal cliff can be averted, lays out the goals for his second term, and also discusses the Benghazi attack and how it was handled by the administration and those on Capitol Hill. 
 
 Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET: President Barack Obama on Sunday said congressional Republicans and their insistence on preventing tax increases for the very wealthy are standing in the way of a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. 
 
 In an exclusive interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," the president chided House Republicans as the clock continued to run out on a potential agreement. 
 
 "They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they're behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected," Obama said. "That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme." 
 
 President Barack Obama says he negotiated with House Speaker Boehner in good faith and moved more than halfway in order to achieve a grand bargain. 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement shortly after Obama's interview was broadcast accusing the president of backpedaling on "needed cuts and reforms" that he had previously agreed upon. 
 
 With a little more than one day remaining before the nation faces automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that could impact an already-wobbling American economy, the president implied that there has been little progress in recent days to justify hopes of a last-minute deal to prevent going over the fiscal cliff at year's end. 
 
 "I was modestly optimistic yesterday, but we don't yet see an agreement," he said in the interview, taped on Saturday at the White House. "And now the pressure's on Congress to produce." 
 
 Read the full transcript 
 
 The president appeared open to eliminating at least some of the scheduled automatic spending cuts if Republicans agree to tax increases for the wealthy. Those cuts are slated to impact defense spending and non-entitlement discretionary spending beginning on Jan. 1. 
 
 "If we have raised some revenue by the wealthy paying a little bit more, that would be sufficient to turn off what's called the sequester, these automatic spending cuts, and that also would have a better outcome for our economy long-term," he said. 
 
 The president challenged Republicans to vote on legislation that he said should be introduced by the Democrat-controlled Senate to prevent taxes on the "middle class" from being increased. 
 
 But he did not specify what income level he would be willing to accept as a dividing line between those who retain Bush-era tax rates and those whose rates would increase. The president has consistently supported increasing taxes on families making over $250,000 a year, but that figure has been a major bargaining chip in negotiations. 
 
 Wherever the line on tax increases ends up, Obama urged a vote in both houses on a final Senate bill if a broader agreement cannot be reached. 
 
 Pete Souza / White House Photo President Barack Obama is interviewed by David Gregory of NBC's "Meet The Press" in the Blue Room of the White House, Dec. 29, 2012. 
 
 "Everybody should have a right to vote on that," he said. "If Republicans don't like it, they can vote no. But I actually think that there's a majority support for making sure that middle class families are held harmless." 
 
 "So far, at least, Congress has not been able to get this stuff done," he added. "Not because Democrats in Congress don't want to go ahead and cooperate, but because I think it's been very hard for Speaker Boehner and Republican Leader McConnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit, as part of an overall deficit reduction package." 
 
 Dismissing the notion that the Democratic Party is as compromise-averse as the GOP, the president said Democrats -- "warts and all" -- have more consistently agreed to components of bipartisan deals. 
 
 "What I'm arguing for are maintaining tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans. I don't think anybody would consider that some liberal left-wing agenda. That used to be considered a pretty mainstream Republican agenda," he said. "And it's something that we can accomplish today if we simply allow for a vote in the Senate and in the House to get it done. The fact that it's not happening is an indication of how far certain factions inside the Republican Party have gone where they can't even accept what used to be considered centrist, mainstream positions on these issues." 
 
 The president offered no new suggestions of compromise measures that may be more palatable to Republicans, although he acknowledged that some Democrats oppose entitlement adjustments and some of the spending cuts that he's put forward during negotiations. 
 
 The president games out different scenarios of how he thinks the fiscal cliff negotiations will be resolved. 
 
 "The offers that I've made to [Republicans] have been so fair that a lot of Democrats get mad at me," he said, noting that his acceptance of Chained CPI, a measure that would change the way Social Security payments are determined, has caused particular rancor within his own party. 
 
 "Highly unpopular among Democrats," he said of the proposed change. "Not something supported by AARP. But in pursuit of strengthening Social Security for the long-term I'm willing to make those decisions." 
 
 If an impasse remains in place, Obama warned, Republicans' rejection of his version of deficit reduction plans would be enough to send financial markets skidding. 
 
 "What's been holding us back is the dysfunction here in Washington," he said. "And if people start seeing that on January 1st this problem still hasn't been solved, that we haven't seen the kind of deficit reduction that we could have had had the Republicans been willing to take the deal that I gave them, if they say that people's taxes have gone up, which means consumer spending is going to be depressed, then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets." 
 
 In his statement, Boehner, R-Ohio, called Obama's comments "ironic," saying that "a recurring theme of our negotiations was his unwillingness to agree to anything that would require him to stand up to his own party. Needed cuts and reforms that the president agreed to just last year were no longer on the table, as he cited an inability to sell them to Democrats. 
 
 "In an effort to get the president to agree to cut spending -- which is the problem -- I put revenues on the table last year, and I put them on the table again last month. Republicans made every effort to reach the 'balanced' deficit agreement that the president promised the American people, while the president has continued to insist on a package skewed dramatically in favor of higher taxes that would destroy jobs. We've been reasonable and responsible. The president is the one who has never been able to get to 'yes.'" 
 
 NBC News' Frank Thorp contributed to this report.
– It's just another Sunday teetering on the fiscal cliff, with the Hill reporting that both Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles are indicating that tax hikes for the rich were a foregone conclusion. “I think Erskine and I both agree that if anybody out there who is, quote, rich doesn’t think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me, I’ll cover it,” says Simpson. And even "that alone won't solve the problem," adds Bowles, who nevertheless indicated he was "more encouraged" than a week ago, because the GOP and Dems "have started to tango now." He praised John Boehner as "a speaker who really gets it" for not wrapping his proposal in any deal-breakers, notes Politico. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial: Bob Corker on Obama's tax offer: "There is a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue. I think [that notion] has merit....I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take." Christine Lagarde on the fiscal cliff: “The best way out of this will be a balanced solution ... (which) takes into account both increasing revenue … and cutting spending, as well." Failure would mean "markets would react very quickly" with stocks "really taking a hit." Cory Booker on his career prospects: "I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration. I'm going to be focused on that for the next week to 10 days or so." As for a run for Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat: "Yeah, I’m actually looking at that a lot as well." Newt Gingrich on Hillary Clinton's 2016 prospects: It's "virtually impossible" for any Democrat to deny her the nomination, and a Clinton candidacy "clears the field."