TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: U.S. President Barack Obama told NBC's Meet the Press that if Congress fails to avert the fiscal cliff, it will impact financial markets.
U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "If people start seeing that on January 1st this problem still hasn't been solved, that we haven't seen the kind of deficit reduction that we could have had, had the Republicans been willing to take the deal that I gave them ... if they say that people's taxes have gone up, which means consumer spending is going to be depressed, then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets,"
REPORTER: Without a deal $600 billion in tax hikes and federal spending cuts will begin to take effect January 1st. On Friday Obama signaled he was cautiously optimistic a deal can get done.
U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SAYING: "But we don't yet see an agreement. And now the pressure's on Congress to produce."
REPORTER: The Senate is expected to hold a rare Sunday session and the House is also expected to convene.
