WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a “fiscal cliff” combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January.

Boehner told reporters that the White House has failed to outline its proposal and instead has pushed the nation closer to a fiscal cliff that economists warn could plunge the country into another recession.

Boehner repeated the long-standing Republican argument that raising tax rates would be detrimental to small businesses. President Barack Obama has insisted that any deal must include an increase in the tax rates for high earners.

He pointed out that he had offered on Monday to raise tax revenues by $800 billion over the next decade by ending or reducing tax breaks, particularly on the wealthy. The Republican plan would cut spending by $1.4 trillion, including by trimming annual increases in Social Security payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.

At the White House, officials used Friday’s mixed jobs report, with its modest growth in hiring, as an argument to embrace Obama’s plans to avoid the fiscal cliff with a package of rate hikes for the rich and public works spending and refinancing help for struggling homeowners.

“Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle class income tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year,” said Alan Krueger, chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.