GOP Sen. Lee becoming 'less optimistic' on ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is becoming "less optimistic" that legislators will be able to avoid the upcoming "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to hit next month.

Lee, a conservative favorite, said he was discouraged by President Obama's initial deficit-reduction proposal and the president's subsequent reaction to House Republicans' counter-proposal.

"Well you know I've been discouraged by the fact that first the president made what I think was a very unreasonable offer last week," Lee said Wednesday in an interview with Utah's KSL News radio. "Then no sooner had he received an offer from Speaker [John] Boehner than he declared it dead on arrival. So I'm growing less optimistic about the chances of their coming to a deal on that."

On Monday Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other top Republicans unveiled a $2.2 trillion deficit-reduction counteroffer. The 10-year plan included $800 billion in new tax revenue. Obama rejected the plan, although he said he was open to entitlement reform proposals from Republicans if they agreed to raising tax rates for upper-income households.

A week before Republicans unveiled their counteroffer, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined Obama's opening bid in deficit negotiations. Obama's plan called for $1.6 trillion in tax increases and $400 billion in savings to entitlement programs. It also included $50 billion in additional stimulus spending.

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