Saturday, July 23, 2011

Update on Obama's Meeting with Congressional Leaders July 23

Update: Boehner to release a NEW plan to raise the debt ceiling Sunday. It is a short-term plan and Obama is opposed to a short-term plan. Why is Obama opposed to a short-term plan? Market stability for one. What a mess.
Obama met with democrats and republicans today in a meeting that lasted about an hour:
President Obama and congressional leaders did not look happy to be sitting in the Cabinet Room of the White House Saturday morning.

Obama, joined by House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, met less than 24 hours after negotiations over the deficit and debt ceiling completely broke down.

Saturday's meeting, according to White House officials, lasted for 50 minutes.
"The President wanted to know that there was a plan for preventing national default," McConnell said in a statement released after the meeting broke up. "The bipartisan leadership in Congress is committed to working on new legislation that will prevent default while substantially reducing Washington spending." Read the rest at The Hill
Everything you need to know about the debt ceiling and more.

WH statement:
The President and Vice President met with Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader Reid and Leader McConnell in the Cabinet Room to discuss options for ensuring that the debt ceiling is raised and the United States does not default on its obligations for the first time in its history. The President restated his opposition to a short-term extension of the debt ceiling, explaining that a short-term extension could cause our country’s credit rating to be downgraded, causing harm to our economy and causing every American to pay higher credit cards rates and more for home and car loans. As the current situation makes clear, it would be irresponsible to put our country and economy at risk again in just a few short months with another battle over raising the debt ceiling. Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit. The meeting lasted approximately one hour. The leaders agreed to return to Capitol Hill to talk to their members and discuss a way forward, and conversations will continue throughout the day.