Obama to lawmakers: Meet every day on debt deal

 

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      Obama tells lawmakers to meet every day on debt deal
      
      

President Barack Obama told top lawmakers on Sunday to be prepared to meet every day this week to hash out a deal to cut the federal budget and raise the debt limit, a Democratic source with knowledge of the talks said.




The Democratic official said that Obama pressed Republicans at a White House meeting Sunday evening to aim for a broad, $4 trillion deficit-reduction package rather than a more modest one.
"If not now, when?" the president asked them when some said it was not the right time to try to craft a far-reaching deal, the official said.
Both sides remained divided over the size and the components of a plan to reduce long term deficits. Saying "we need to" work out an agreement over the next 10 days, the president and lawmakers agreed to meet again Monday.







Obama also sought to use the power of his office to sway public opinion, scheduling a news conference for 11 a.m. ET Monday, his second one in less than two weeks devoted primarily to the debt talks.
But there appeared to be little appetite for such an ambitious plan and the political price it would require to pass in Congress. Instead, House Speaker John Boehner told the group that a smaller package of about $2 trillion to $2.4 trillion was more realistic.
A Democratic official familiar with the session said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., was especially adamant that any deficit reduction package could not contain tax increases and that any new tax revenue would have to be used to pay for other tax benefits.

Obama and the congressional leaders met in the Cabinet Room of the White House for the rare Sunday session. Most appeared in casual Sunday clothes, with open-collared shirts underneath blazers.

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