The Democratic majority leader in the US Senate Harry Reid has dampened hopes that a solution might be found to avoid hundreds of billions dollars as spending cuts and tax rises known as the fiscal cliff. Unless a deal is reached within days it is feared that US could fall back into recession.The talking goes on but a deal looks distant. President Obama and members of the Senate have returned to Washington in a hope of finding a breakthrough. But while the Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to accept any tax rises it is difficult to see how Congress can agree to a package of tax and spending measures before January the first. The Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell said that there was still time to reach an agreement of some kind.