House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has sent a counter-offer to President Obama to avert the upcoming tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff," but his office declined to share details of the offer.

The proposal “would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in an e-mail. “As the Speaker said today, we’re still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the ‘balanced approach’ he promised the American people. The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff.”

Boehner and other congressional Republicans called on Obama Tuesday to put forward specific proposals to cut federal spending, saying that the current focus on taxes must be met with serious attempts to scale back spending on entitlements and wasteful or duplicative federal programs.