After making a round of late-night calls, President Barack Obama plans to meet with top congressional leaders in person on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to avoid going over the fiscal cliff on January 1.
A White House official confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will be in attendance.
The president and lawmakers are in a time crunch to reach a budget deal–they only have until the end of this year–to stop $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts from kicking into effect.
The Senate reconvened on Thursday, while the House of Representatives, which took a longer vacation, is due back in session on Sunday at 6:30pm ET. If you do the math, that allows Congress only 29 ½ hours to pass legislation–not a lot of time, even for the most skilled procrastinators in Congress.
Reid seemed doubtful they could reach to an agreement by the deadline, warning that going over the cliff “looks like that is where we’re headed.”
“I don’t know time-wise how it can happen now,” said a gloomy Reid on the Senate floor Thursday, noting his absent colleagues in the House and reminded everyone of the Republican gridlock.








