The White House on Thursday offered House Republicans a deal that would raise $1.6 trillion in tax revenue in exchange for $400 billion in spending cuts that would "come later," according to a top GOP aide.
Not surprisingly, the deal isn't sitting well with Republicans. One called the offer "a joke."
The deal, which Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner offered in separate visits with House and Senate leaders on Thursday, also would allow for nation's debt limit to increase without any additional cuts or reforms, something Republicans oppose.
The deal would also include other goodies for the Democrats, such as new stimulus spending, according to the GOP aide.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters he was disappointed in the Geithner offer.
The Republican aide, familiar with the on-going negotiations on the so-called fiscal cliff, said that the Obama administration has been offering only what "amounts to little more than reiterating the president's budget request - which failed to get a single vote in the House or Senate."
