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Debt talks break down; "we have run out of time"
Debt talks break down; "we have run out of time"
Debt talks break down; "we have run out of time" - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
By Brian Montopoli
.
With eleven days before the August 2 deadline, talks to negotiate a deal to raise the debt limit have broken down, leaving the United States on the cusp of a possible economic catastrophe.
"We have run out of time," Mr. Obama said.
House Speaker John Boehner walked away from negotiations Friday, complaining that Mr. Obama would not agree to Republican demands that the deal not include any tax increases. Shortly after Boehner made his decision public, Mr. Obama appeared before reporters to explain what had been on the table and hammer Boehner for walking away from an "extraordinarily fair deal."
The deal on the table, as Mr. Obama laid it out, included more than $1 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense discretionary spending, as well as $650 million in cuts to entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He said he asked for approximately $1.2 trillion in revenue increases that he said would have come from "eliminating loopholes and deductions," not hiking tax rates.
The deal, he said, called for less in tax increases than the deal worked out by the bipartisan Gang of Six negotiators, while including as much in discretionary savings. He said if the deal was unbalanced, "it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."
"It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal and frankly, if you look at the commentary out there, there are a lot of Republicans that are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done," he said. "In fact, there are a lot of Republican voters out there who are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done.
Mr. Obama at one point suggested he "couldn't get a phone call returned" from Boehner earlier in the day, and said that when it comes to a deal, "I've been left at the altar now a couple of times." He said he was unable to guarantee that Social Security checks and other obligations would go out after the August 2 deadline, and said the blame if they do not falls on House Republicans who have been unwilling to compromise to get a deal done.
Mr. Obama said he was calling Congressional leaders to the White House Saturday morning at 11 to try to reach some kind of deal, and acknowledged that discussions were basically back to square one.
"What this came down to is there doesn't seem to be a capacity for them to say yes," he said of Republicans.
Debt talks break down; "we have run out of time" - Political Hotsheet - CBS News
By Brian Montopoli
.
With eleven days before the August 2 deadline, talks to negotiate a deal to raise the debt limit have broken down, leaving the United States on the cusp of a possible economic catastrophe.
"We have run out of time," Mr. Obama said.
House Speaker John Boehner walked away from negotiations Friday, complaining that Mr. Obama would not agree to Republican demands that the deal not include any tax increases. Shortly after Boehner made his decision public, Mr. Obama appeared before reporters to explain what had been on the table and hammer Boehner for walking away from an "extraordinarily fair deal."
The deal on the table, as Mr. Obama laid it out, included more than $1 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense discretionary spending, as well as $650 million in cuts to entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He said he asked for approximately $1.2 trillion in revenue increases that he said would have come from "eliminating loopholes and deductions," not hiking tax rates.
The deal, he said, called for less in tax increases than the deal worked out by the bipartisan Gang of Six negotiators, while including as much in discretionary savings. He said if the deal was unbalanced, "it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."
"It is hard to understand why Speaker Boehner would walk away from this kind of deal and frankly, if you look at the commentary out there, there are a lot of Republicans that are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done," he said. "In fact, there are a lot of Republican voters out there who are puzzled as to why it couldn't get done.
Mr. Obama at one point suggested he "couldn't get a phone call returned" from Boehner earlier in the day, and said that when it comes to a deal, "I've been left at the altar now a couple of times." He said he was unable to guarantee that Social Security checks and other obligations would go out after the August 2 deadline, and said the blame if they do not falls on House Republicans who have been unwilling to compromise to get a deal done.
Mr. Obama said he was calling Congressional leaders to the White House Saturday morning at 11 to try to reach some kind of deal, and acknowledged that discussions were basically back to square one.
"What this came down to is there doesn't seem to be a capacity for them to say yes," he said of Republicans.