He’s prepared to veto legislation to block the “fiscal cliff” unless Republicans allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire for those making more than $250,000 a year, the White House says. But the details show how far the president is ready to push House Republicans. After meeting with Geithner for about 45 minutes Thursday morning, the speaker announced his frustration with a negotiation process in which nearly three weeks have lapsed since the election with “no substantive progress.” 
 
 “I’m disappointed in where we are, and disappointed in what’s happened over the last couple weeks,” Boehner told reporters. “They took a step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. If the Republicans want additional spending cuts in that down payment, the onus is on them to put them on the table, said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. “The president has made his proposal; we need a proposal from them.” 
 
 Although the White House offer seemed to startle Republicans, it contains little that would be unfamiliar to anyone following the president’s recent public statements. To ensure that there are no more crises like the debt ceiling impasse last year, Mr. Geithner proposed permanently ending Congressional purview over the federal borrowing limit, Republican aides said. However, this change would also deprive Congress of its historic authority over federal borrowing. View Graphic What going over the 'fiscal cliff' would mean . Boehner called the discussion “frank and direct” and said he remains “hopeful that productive conversations can be had in the days ahead.” But both sides confirmed that no additional meetings have been planned but emphasized that talks will continue. Obama’s proposal, as outlined by Republicans, would purportedly trim the debt by about $4 trillion over the next decade, in part through spending cuts already in force and savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama also is demanding that dividends be taxed as normal income and that the estate tax be raised to 45 percent and expanded to cover estates worth as little as $3.5 million — policies for which the Democratic Senate was unable to win approval earlier this year. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, pointed to conservative Republicans who have suggested that the House quickly pass Democratic legislation in the Senate extending the expiring tax cuts for income below $250,000.
– Details are emerging on Treasury secretary Tim Geithner's trek to Capitol Hill today to present the White House's wish list in the fiscal cliff talks, a move that "in some sense amounts to a formal start of negotiations," reports the Wall Street Journal. The short version seems to be that he asked for a lot—the proposal was "loaded with Democratic priorities and short on detailed spending cuts," says the New York Times—and Republicans let him know it. "No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks," complained John Boehner afterward. Added Mitch McConnell: The White House has taken a "step backward." Some highlights of what Geithner requested, from the Times, Journal, and Washington Post: No more debt ceiling—Congress would no longer need to approve an increase in the federal borrowing limit. It could try to block one, but the president would be able to veto. $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, including an immediate increase in rates for the richest Americans. (Politico says the final figure will be closer to $1.2 trillion once all the "huffing and puffing" is over.) $400 billion in savings over a decade from Medicare and other entitlement programs. $50 billion in new stimulus spending on infrastructure. Extensions of the payroll tax holiday and emergency jobless benefits.