WASHINGTON, July 16, 2011 (AFP) - US President Barack Obama is pressing polarized lawmakers to avert what he called economic “Armageddon” by quickly forging a deal to prevent an early August debt by the world's richest country.
“We're obviously running out of time,” Obama warned at the White House Friday, as Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives met separately to discuss the way forward and Senate leaders worked on a last-ditch compromise.
Obama renewed his call for a “grand bargain,” which would cut entitlement programs dear to his fellow Democrats, but Republicans have flatly rejected his call for higher taxes on the rich.
White House failed to reach a deal on closing the yawning budget deficit while raising the US debt limit from its current $14.3 trillion.
Economists and finance and business leaders have warned that failure to raise the US debt ceiling by August 2 could send shock waves through a world economy still reeling from the 2008 collapse.
Ratings agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's have warned they may downgrade Washington's sterling Triple-A debt rating, and leading US creditor China, Wall Street titan JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve have also sounded the alarm.
With time running short, Obama's top Republican foes in Congress called for votes next week on their plan for severe spending cuts on the way to amending the US Constitution to require cash-strapped Washington to balance its budget. |
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