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Summary White House talks to avert a disastrous early August debt default teetered on the edge of collapse.
US President Barack Obama condemned Boehner s decision and angrily called top lawmakers to the White House for emergency negotiations, warning “we have run out of time” with an August 2 deadline looming. “I expect them to have an answer in terms of how they intend to get this thing done over the course of the next week. The American people expect action,” the president said.Obama said Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell must “have some answers” to reassure skittish global markets. Obama insisted that any agreement to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit last through his November 2012 reelection bid and declared himself confident of reaching a deal to do so because of critical stakes for the US economy. “I cannot believe that Congress would end up being that irresponsible that they would not send a package that avoids a self-inflicted wound to the economy at a time when things are so difficult,” he declared.Obama s remarks came just a half-hour after Boehner telephoned him to say he was backing out of often acrimonious negotiations that had centered, Republican aides said, on a plan to cut $3-$3.5 trillion from US debt over ten years. Boehner said in a letter to members of the House of Representatives that he was walking away because the Democratic president was insisting on increasing tax revenue collected from the rich and wealthy corporations.
