Obama calls talks constructive, but cites divide on range of issues
President Obama offered optimism that a debt deal was in reach Thursday but acknowledged the two sides remain far a part on a number of issues.
After a meeting with congressional leaders that lasted just less than two hours, Obama said all parties had acknowledged "there's going to be pain involved politically on all sides."
He also said major differences remained on a "wide range of issues" and that votes from both parties in both chambers would be required to move a package through Congress.
At the same time, he said Democratic and Republican leaders arrived at the White House with a shared spirit of compromise.
"Everybody acknowledged that the issue of our debt and our deficit is something that needs to be tackled now," Obama said in remarks at the White House briefing room. "Everybody acknowledged that in order to do that, Democrats and Republicans are going to be required in each chamber."
The president said staff would be put to work on negotiations over the next few days and leaders would return to the White House on Sunday for another meeting.
"A lot of work will be done between now and then," Obama said.
Thursday's meeting took place after reports of new flexibility from the president on Social Security, and from Republicans on taxes.
Obama is now pushing for a deficit-reduction package totaling $4 trillion over 10 years, according to reports, that would include changes to Social Security and Medicare.
The president offered no details on the content of the talks, saying "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed to."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is considering revenue raisers totaling $1 trillion that could be included in the package. Boehner did not refute that report but said Thursday that the GOP would not agree to any deal that raised taxes.
Obama said that he will meet with lawmakers Sunday "with the expectation that at that point, the parties will know at least each others' bottom lines." He also said everyone at the meeting agreed that the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling needs to be raised "before the hard deadline" of Aug. 2, when the Treasury Department says it will no longer have the ability to pay the nation's bills. Economists warn this could lead to catastrophic effects on the economy, and business groups have pressed politicians to come together on a deal.
After Obama spoke, White House press secretary Jay Carney said there was "not a specific breakthrough that happened today, but there was a constructive atmosphere" during the meeting.
Obama earlier this week told lawmakers they faced a “unique opportunity” with talks to raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit.
The signals of progress have prompted new optimism for the debt-ceiling talks. At the same time, the reports of flexibility from Obama and Boehner are sure to provoke some anxiety about what each side might have to give up to get a deal.
Some Democrats on Thursday insisted that Social Security should not be on the table, and complained that Obama should have let them know of his plans before they learned of it in the press.
Conservative senators lay out debt plan
A group of conservative Senate Republicans are seeking to make their mark on the debt limit debate, unveiling legislation that includes a $2.4 trillion hike to that ceiling, but with several major conditions.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and 21 GOP senators unveiled legislation Thursday that would require Congress to implement several spending caps across government spending, including entitlements, as well as pass a balanced budget amendment before the debt limit could be increased.
"It's a move we believe is absolutely necessary," said Lee.
He is joined on the bill by fellow freshmen like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), as well as more senior members, like Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. However, it has yet to attract any backing from Senate Republican leaders.
The bill effectively codifies the "Cut, Cap and Balance" pledge that had been signed by a handful of Republicans, including Lee. The one-page pledge calls for lawmakers to oppose any debt limit increase unless "substantial cuts in spending," spending caps, and a balanced budget amendment are approved by Congress first.
However, the legislation also attracted Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) as a co-sponsor, even though he did not sign the pledge.
Blunt said Thursday that he was not interested in signing a pledge that laid out what he would not do, but the measure was a different matter.
"This is a bill that says what I would do," he said, before adding that he would not sign off on a debt limit increase without a "significant structural change" to government spending.
Such a measure is unlikely to gain traction in a Senate still controlled by Democrats, but Lee maintained he would like to see a vote on the measure before Aug. 2, which is the deadline the Treasury Department has set for hiking the limit.
But even if the measure does not become a reality, Lee made clear that he did not buy the fledgling argument that the president has the power under the Constitution to avoid the debt ceiling altogether. Such a notion has been gaining some steam among Democrats -- while being shot down by others -- and Lee was adamant it was not so.
Rather, the clause of the Constitution that supposedly gives Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner the power to issue debt regardless of the debt limit actually does something quite different based on Lee's reading: it forces him to prioritize funds to make debt service payments above other obligations if the debt limit is reached.
"The Treasury Secretary has to make sure those get paid first," he said.
For their part, the White House -- including President Obama -- have declined to even consider such a move in public, reiterating the emphasis on striking a deal with Congress before the deadline. But a Reuters report indicated that the Treasury has looked into the issue.
But that has not stopped Republicans from trying to head the issue off at the pass -- including introducing a resolution in the Senate that affirms that Congress must approve a debt limit increase and the President must sign it before issuing new debt.
GOP leaders say they'll know by Sunday if deficit deal is possible
GOP leaders said they will know by Sunday if a comprehensive deficit-reduction deal can be reached with the White House.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) briefed GOP senators Thursday after meeting earlier in the day with President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders.
Obama announced earlier Thursday that negotiators would work through the weekend to set up a framework for the deal.
In a final push to ink a deal to raise the national debt limit by Aug 2., Obama has put Medicare and Social Security reform on the table, GOP leaders told members of the Senate Republican conference.
Boehner and McConnell told their colleagues that if there is to be a grand bargain, it will have to be reached by the beginning of next week to give Congress enough time to fill in the details, put it in legislative language and pass it by the end of July.
“They’ve been talking long enough. If we’re going to get an agreement, expect to get it by Sunday,” said a GOP senator, summarizing the meeting with Boehner and McConnell.
“What they said is they expect to have an agreement or no agreement by Sunday,” said the lawmaker. “If there’s going to be an agreement, we’ll have it by Sunday. We almost have to have it by Sunday in order to get it written, debated, voted on and enacted by the end of July.”
A second GOP senators said there’s “no deal or framework of a deal” but “serious consideration about everything.”
The lawmaker said Boehner and McConnell said that Obama had expressed a willingness to put Medicare and Social Security reform on the table. But GOP leaders are not certain what exactly Obama will accept in return as part of an agreement.
The GOP senator also said that it was clear from the meeting that if a comprehensive deal were not reached by the start of next week, there was very little chance of reaching a broad deficit-reduction deal by Aug. 2.
“If we’re going to have a deal, it’s going to have to be at the start of next week,” the senator said.
The lawmaker said Republicans are debating what their fall-back plan will be in the absence of a deal.
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who has played a central role in the debt-limit talks, declined to predict whether Monday is a make-or-break day.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Obviously time is short.”
In a final push to ink a deal to raise the national debt limit by Aug 2., Obama has put Medicare and Social Security reform on the table, GOP leaders told members of the Senate Republican conference.
Boehner and McConnell told their colleagues that if there is to be a grand bargain, it will have to be reached by the beginning of next week to give Congress enough time to fill in the details, put it in legislative language and pass it by the end of July.
“They’ve been talking long enough. If we’re going to get an agreement, expect to get it by Sunday,” said a GOP senator, summarizing the meeting with Boehner and McConnell.
“What they said is they expect to have an agreement or no agreement by Sunday,” said the lawmaker. “If there’s going to be an agreement, we’ll have it by Sunday. We almost have to have it by Sunday in order to get it written, debated, voted on and enacted by the end of July.”
A second GOP senators said there’s “no deal or framework of a deal” but “serious consideration about everything.”
The lawmaker said Boehner and McConnell said that Obama had expressed a willingness to put Medicare and Social Security reform on the table. But GOP leaders are not certain what exactly Obama will accept in return as part of an agreement.
The GOP senator also said that it was clear from the meeting that if a comprehensive deal were not reached by the start of next week, there was very little chance of reaching a broad deficit-reduction deal by Aug. 2.
“If we’re going to have a deal, it’s going to have to be at the start of next week,” the senator said.
The lawmaker said Republicans are debating what their fall-back plan will be in the absence of a deal.
Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who has played a central role in the debt-limit talks, declined to predict whether Monday is a make-or-break day.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Obviously time is short.”
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