White House spokesman Jay Carney denounced a Republican “Plan B” aimed at avoiding the looming “fiscal cliff” on Thursday, calling it a “multi-day exercise in futility.”

At his daily news briefing, Carney said there remains “even at this late date” an opportunity for a grand compromise to avoid the automatic tax increases and spending cuts that will take place unless lawmakers reach a deal by year’s end.

A “Plan B” option pursued by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, “is a multi-day exercise in futility at a time when we don’t have the luxury of exercises in futility.”

“It’s an exercise in Republican vote-counting that will not result in anything for the American people,” said Carney. He said President Barack Obama would veto it if ever it got to his desk, but doubted it would, since the proposal cannot pass the Democratic-led Senate.

(Reuters)