Obama calls for scaled back package to avert fiscal cliff
US President Barack Obama told lawmakers to go home Friday to drink some Christmas eggnog then come back to Washington to pass a scaled-down package of tax cuts to avert a year-end fiscal crisis.
"This is something within our capacity to solve, it doesn't take much work, we just have to do the right thing," he said, calling on lawmakers to return next week to pass legislation before January 1.