Kathleen Hunter

No additional congressional action is planned before the start of the cuts, to be split between defense and non-defense spending. The across-the-board reductions will total $1.2 trillion over nine years, with $85 billion set to take effect in the remaining seven months of this fiscal year.

President Barack Obama had a warning for John Boehner at a Dec. 13 White House meeting: Stop opposing higher tax rates for top earners, or the president would dedicate his second term to blaming Republicans for a global recession.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers in Congress are “very, very close” to a deal to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to start at midnight.

The White House and congressional negotiators agreed to contours of a budget deal including tax cut extensions, with the remaining sticking point being how to avert automatic federal spending cuts, said an official familiar with the talks.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he’s hopeful negotiators can reach a last-minute U.S. budget deal that would protect all but top earners from a tax increase.

Negotiators made progress overnight as they tried to reach a last-minute U.S. budget deal that would let income taxes go up on some top earners.

President Obama, facing a budget stalemate with Republicans, urged leaders of both parties to assemble an interim bill to keep taxes from rising on middle- income Americans as they work on a more comprehensive plan.

President Barack Obama’s victory positions him to claim a mandate for pushing a proposal through Congress that would let tax cuts expire for top earners and avert $1.2 trillion in automatic spending reductions.