An aide said Boehner talked to Obama in September, but the topic was foreign policy. Boehner, Obama haven't talked cliff

Taxes go up on everyone at the end of the year. Pentagon spending will be slashed. The nation will reach its borrowing cap.

And President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner haven’t spoken about this so-called fiscal cliff in nearly four months.


That’s what the speaker told his House colleagues on a conference call Wednesday — he and Obama haven’t spoken since July.

It’s a striking admission from the nation’s top elected Republican and clear evidence that the most urgent legislative concerns are frozen until after the election. A Boehner aide notes that the speaker did talk to Obama in September, but the topic was foreign policy, not the fiscal cliff.

In fact, Boehner was asked on the call for an update on the sequester — Washington-speak for the automatic spending cuts to the Pentagon and other domestic spending.

“It’s all about the election,” Boehner said, according to several participants on the call who described the discussion to POLITICO. The message: The election is stalling everything. He reiterated, according to sources, that the House has passed legislation to replace the automatic spending cuts and impending tax rate increases, while the Senate hasn’t.

He also shed a bit more light on his thinking on the so-called fiscal cliff. Boehner said that he’s opposed to crafting “sweeping legislation” during the lame duck — reiterating a point he made earlier this month in an interview with POLITICO.

Boehner did tell participants on the call that Congress has to act on the bundle of expiring provisions before the end of the year to ensure the nation’s economy isn’t damaged.

Lawmakers, Boehner said, should be prepared for a busy November and December.