Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner charged on Thursday that the White House seems willing to “slow-walk our economy right up to – and over – the fiscal cliff.”

In remarks prepared for a scheduled 11:15 a.m. ET (16:15 GMT) news conference, Boehner also said, “The president wants to pretend spending isn’t the problem. That’s why we don’t have an agreement” to reduce the mounting U.S. debt.

Boehner’s remarks underscored the lack of progress in finding common ground before a year-end deadline to avert the steep tax hikes and budget cuts set for the start of 2013.

(Reuters)