Obama To Meet With Labor, Business Leaders

President Barack Obama is inviting leaders from the labor and business communities to the White House this week for talks on the so-called fiscal cliff.

The White House says Obama will meet with labor representatives as well as other progressive groups Tuesday. He'll hold separate meetings with the business community Wednesday.

Following his re-election, Obama said he wanted to build consensus for his approach to averting the cliff, a series of tax increases and spending cuts that will take effect at the end of the year without congressional action. The president says he is open to compromise, but is standing firm on his call for upper income earners to pay more in taxes.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)