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| John Boehner says Senate must act first |
The Republican-run House did not have a scheduled return date as of Wednesday afternoon, less than a week before the start of a year that includes the set of automatic tax hikes and budget cuts known as the "fiscal cliff."
House members will receive a 48-hour get-back-to-work-notice, presumably meaning the chamber couldn't convene before Friday afternoon.
"Scheduling decisions are still being discussed," said a statement from the office of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, whose talks with Obama on a debt reduction deal to avoid the fiscal cliff stalled last week.
The Democratic-run Senate is scheduled to meet.
"The Senate first must act," said a joint statement Wednesday by Boehner and other House GOP leaders. "The lines of communication remain open, and we will continue to work with our colleagues to avert the largest tax hike in American history and to address the underlying problem, which is spending."
In a reply, Reid noted that the Senate has passed a plan to prevent tax hikes on the middle class Jan. 1, but the House hasn't taken it up.
"The Senate has already rejected House Republicans' Tea Party bills, and no further legislation can move through the Senate until Republicans drop their knee-jerk obstruction," Reid said. "Right now, the Senate bill is the only bill that can become law, and House Republicans owe it to middle class families to let it pass with Democratic and Republican votes."
Read more: Obama returns to 'fiscal cliff' uncertainty
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