Obama sets debt-limit discussions
President says no to a short-term deal
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is calling congressional leaders to the White House for talks this week on raising the national debt limit, deepening his involvement in the political standoff to head off a potential crisis of federal government default.
Obama asked to meet with House and Senate leaders of both parties Thursday as the White House seeks a July 22 resolution to the impasse that, left unsolved, threatens an upheaval in financial markets. The president brushed aside partisan invitations to Capitol Hill in favor of assembling all parties in one room.
The summit comes at a critical moment of stalemate in the deficit-reduction discussions. Republicans insist on steep budget cuts in exchange for their votes to raise the current $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. The White House wants to address the deficit by cutting spending and cutting tax loopholes on corporations and wealthy families.
Without increased borrowing authority, the Treasury Department has said the federal government would be unable to pay its bills by Aug. 2, risking an unprecedented default. The White House wants an agreement before that deadline.
“I don’t think the American people sent us here to avoid tough problems,” Obama told reporters.
The eight congressional leaders – the top two Republicans and Democrats in each chamber – agreed to meet with the president at the White House. However, in advance of the meeting, Republicans dug in to fortify their no-taxes stance, insisting that not even measures to close loopholes would win support in Congress.
Republicans want at least $2.4 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for a comparable amount of new debt. Talks are under way behind closed doors among the White House and congressional staff.
“I’m happy to discuss these issues at the White House, but such discussions will be fruitless until the president recognizes economic and legislative reality,” said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.”
Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the majority leader who dropped out of earlier White House-led talks citing an impasse over taxes, plans to attend the meeting to “tell the president directly that a tax increase simply will not pass the House,” his spokesman, Brad Dayspring, said.
Obama previously has said that, as leaders, it is up to the GOP officials to persuade their rank-and-file. However, the GOP leaders also face tea party-backed lawmakers who consider any source of federal revenue tantamount to a tax increase.
With deadlock beginning to set in, some Republican leaders in the Senate have suggested passing a short-term measure that allows bills to be paid but requires Congress to revisit the issue in a few months. Obama shot down that notion Tuesday, saying leaders must “leave their ultimatums at the door.”
The message represents a slight shift for the president and his aides, who until now have not directly dismissed the possibility of a short-term measure.