WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer.

Hours later, Vice President Joe Biden again laid out the White House's terms: raise the top two tax rates paid by upper-income earners and give the president authority to raise the government's borrowing cap without the approval of Congress.

"Top brackets have to go up. The top rate should go to 39.6 percent," Biden said, referring to the top Clinton-era tax rate. Obama campaigned on raising tax rates on individual income exceeding $200,000 and family income over $250,000, and he's claiming his re-election as a mandate to insist on it. Republicans are offering new tax revenues through closing loopholes and curbing deductions.