Reply #59: Looks like Lucy pulled the football back........again.

[Fuddnik]

Obama faces new obstacles in high-stakes debt talks
Failure to act may mean first-ever default on nation's financial obligations, which some warn could trigger global financial chaos

msnbc.com news services
updated 7/10/2011 6:22:37 AM ET



WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will try to salvage high-stakes debt talks on Sunday after Republicans pulled back from a joint effort to craft a broad $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal as part of a plan to avoid a government default.

On the eve of bipartisan negotiations hosted by Obama, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner — facing stiff opposition from fellow Republicans over the prospects of higher taxes as part of a large-scale deal — told the president he would only pursue a smaller, $2 trillion package .

A deficit reduction agreement is crucial to winning Republican support for an increase in the nation's debt ceiling. The government's borrowing capacity is currently capped at $14.3 trillion and administration officials say the United States will go into default without action by Aug. 2.

Expectations for Sunday's meeting took an abrupt turn Saturday after Boehner informed Obama that the smaller package identified — but not agreed to — by bipartisan negotiators was more realistic.;;

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43701378/ns/politics-white_house/