GOP Submits Counter Offer on Fiscal Cliff

House Republicans submitted a counter offer late Tuesday to President Obama on a plan to avert the fiscal cliff.

The proposal from House Republicans came as a response to a modified offer from the White House which now seeks to raise $1.4 trillion in revenue as opposed to the $1.6 trillion included in the previous offer, a senior aide confirmed to FOX Business.

The counter offer includes tax and entitlement reforms, according to Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner.  "As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the 'balanced approach' he promised the American people. The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff," he said. Few details of the Republican proposal were released.

Senior officials at the White House told Fox News there is a bigger feeling of optimism and progress there, saying talks between the president and Boehner went better than either side has let on to this point.

A senior adviser to the president said after the last couple of days, a deal is about "75%" of the way completed and expected to continue to "go higher" tonight.