House Speaker John Boehner essentially walked out of debt limit negotiations with President Obama Saturday night. He cited an impasse with the White House over the size of the debt reduction package.
After abandoning talks, Boehner issued a statement, saying: “Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is scheduled to meet at the White House Sunday to further discuss a deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on the nation’s debt. (Obama puts Medicare, Social Security cuts on the table)
The White House released a statement Saturday night, saying: “Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington. The President believes that now is the moment to rise above that cynicism and show the American people that we can still do big things. And so tomorrow, he will make the case to congressional leaders that we must reject the politics of least resistance and take on this critical challenge.”