Congressional leaders meet at White House to discuss raising debt limit

No major breakthrough in the first meeting on the debt limit since John Boehner withdrew from negotiations on a larger deficit reduction package:

Congressional leaders returned to the White House Saturday, meeting for less than an hour at the start of a last-gasp round of negotiations with President Barack Obama to avert a government default on the nation?s debt.

The meeting was brief, starting at 11:09 and ending by 11:58, and there was no immediate sign that the parties had resolved their differences.

Obama and the leaders are expected to work through the weekend to strike a deal to raise the debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline after talks on a large budget deal collapsed.

?Leaders discussed the urgency of finding a path forward this weekend,? a Senate Democratic aide said, adding that Republican and Democratic staff would huddle over the next two days.

This really shouldn't be a difficult thing to figure out: if you want to raise the debt limit, you can, you know ... raise the debt limit. Boehner obviously didn't want to negotiate a deficit reduction package, so he quit the talks. But he clearly still wants to raise the debt limit. So just do it already. It'd take 15 seconds.

11:18 AM PT (Kaili Joy Gray): Statement from the White House Press Secretary:

The President and Vice President met with Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid and Leader McConnell in the Cabinet Room to discuss options for ensuring that the debt ceiling is raised and the United States does not default on its obligations for the first time in its history. The President restated his opposition to a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, explaining that a short-term extension could cause our country?s credit rating to be downgraded, causing harm to our economy and causing every American to pay higher credit cards rates and more for home and car loans.  As the current situation makes clear, it would be irresponsible to put our country and economy at risk again in just a few short months with another battle over raising the debt ceiling. Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit. The meeting lasted approximately one hour.  The leaders agreed to return to Capitol Hill to talk to their members and discuss a way forward, and conversations will continue throughout the day.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/ikLYmPUQGz0/-Congressional-leaders-meet-at-White-House-to-discuss-raising-debt-limit

conservative political news maryland senators virginia political news political advertising