President Barack Obama is meeting with top congressional leaders today to make headway on the fiscal cliff.

“My hope is this is going to be the beginning of a fruitful process that we're able to come to agreement that will reduce our deficit in a balanced way, that we will deal with some of these long-term impediments to growth and we're also going to be focusing on making sure that middle class families are able to get ahead," Obama said at the start of the meeting. “We’re going to get to work.”

While Democrats and Republicans are far from an agreement on this issue so far, there may be room for a compromise as House Speaker and Republican John Boehner has indicated that his party is open to new tax revenue strategies. Meanwhile, Obama has become more lax on his declaration that income tax rates should reach the height of what was seen during the Clinton administration, which hit 39.6 percent.