with more on this, we have peter barnes, fox business sr. washington correspondent. what did the president have to say moments ago? >> john boehner did say that this would be a cooling off period. maybe they would have some time to reflect here. the president said that he did speak on the phone to speaker john boehner this afternoon. he also had majority leader harry reid to avoid the fiscal cliff and figure out a passport. he said he is ready and willing to try to get a compromise package done. all at once or stuff like that. but we'll have to wait until after the holiday. the president planning to hold out for the holidays, and congress is out for the holidays. the president saying that putting pressure began on republicans, house republicans, to least extend tax cuts for the middle class. that would be the step by scratch in transit approach and he is speaking to constituents back home who he hopes will give feedback to members of congress while they are there for the holiday to try to get them to agree or get back to the table to negotiate something. gerri: if it