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Congressional leaders prepared for a meeting at the White House on Friday as top aides said lawmakers were pursuing a proposal that would prevent tax increases on income of $400,000 or below.

When lawmakers return to Washington on Monday, they face big issues, including taxes, spending cuts and the prospect of a debilitating "fiscal cliff" in January. Yet Congress is expected to do what it often does best: punt problems to the future....

The emerging legislation stands in sharp contrast to previous occasions when House Republicans used the leverage of a spending deadline to insist on deep spending cuts.

Despite discomfort in the Republican ranks, House and Senate negotiators reached a deal in principle early Thursday to extend a payroll tax break, continue unemployment benefits and ensure that Medicare doctors do not get a pay cut this year.

House-Senate talks on renewing a payroll tax cut that delivers about $20 a week to the average worker yielded a tentative agreement Tuesday, with lawmakers planning to unveil the pact Wednesday and sending the measure to President Barack Obama as early as this week.

Lawmakers endorsed demands by Anna Hazare, the anticorruption campaigner who has been on a hunger strike, for legislation to fight graft.