WATCH | President Obama Addresses 'Fiscal Cliff'

President Obama on Election Night 2012.

At 1 p.m. Friday afternoon, President Obama will make his first comments on economic policy since the election. The president is expected to address the "fiscal cliff" the nation will face in January.

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, also spoke about the economy Friday morning as both sides prepare to negotiate. Boehner avoided giving details on what kind of entitlement reform his party wanted to see, but stressed that tax increases should be off the table.

Boehner and Obama hope to avoid sequestration, which involves large spending cuts to government programs across the board in proportion to their current budgets. Medicaid and Social Security, however, are shielded from these cuts.

Sequestration is scheduled to happen automatically in January 2013 as a result of the debt ceiling compromise agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats in the summer of 2011.

Watch President Obama's speech here: