America President Barack Obama gave lawmakers 24 to 36 hours to finalize the path forward for raising the debt ceiling during the latest high-stakes White House meeting on Thursday.The president told attendees, according to the notes of a Democratic official. "We need concrete plans to move this forward."the Aug. 2 debt ceiling deadline approaches, Obama and congressional leadership from both parties met for their sixth straight day of talks. There were no verbal altercations between the president and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, as there had been the day before. In fact, multiple Democratic sources relayed that Cantor barely spoke.
the attending parties went through the four or so options that remain on the table, with respect to resolving the ever-winding debt ceiling saga. The president again pushed leaders to consider the biggest package possible, one that includes trillions in spending cuts, entitlement reforms and added revenues to help round out the deal.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who earlier in the day had warned lawmakers that the government was "running out of time" to negotiate, again stressed to attendees the perils of not just failing to raise the debt ceiling but of not reducing the nation's deficit and debt. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), meanwhile, reiterated his position that the administration's approach was insufficient for resolving the nation's debt problem. "He continued to press the White House to get serious about reducing spending in a meaningful way," a Republican aide said.
Obama informed those in the room that he may call another meeting during the weekend if he "hasn’t heard back from them with a plan of action," a Democratic official said.The minority and majority leader have been working on a proposal that would take the $1.5 to $1.7 trillion in agreed-to cuts and attach it to legislation that would give Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling while simply suggesting (but not signing off on) additional spending cuts.The proposal, a Democratic official said, received "very little discussion" at Thursday's meeting. "However, this remains a fallback option."
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