Debt talks continue as progress tough to come by

President Barack Obama meets with, from left, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va., House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., right, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Sunday, July 10, 2011, in Washington, to discuss the debt.

/ AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

President Obama will reconvene with lawmakers Monday afternoon to hammer out a deal to raise the debt ceiling - a routine he says will continue daily until a deal is reached.

Though the so-called "grand bargain" he proposed last week appears all but dead, Mr. Obama again plans to "make a case for doing something big" at a press conference Monday morning, a senior administration official tells CBS News political analyst John Dickerson.

The official said Mr. Obama told congressional leaders on Sunday that "if they didn't think they could go big, they should come back today with alternatives that could pass both" the Republican controlled House of Representatives and the Senate, controlled by Democrats.

Ahead of the Sunday night meeting between the president and bipartisan congressional leaders, which dissolved without resolution to the months-long stalemate, Mr Obama said "we need to" work out a compromise within the next ten days - and that he plans to continue his push for a comprehensive deal that will take the U.S. government through 2013.

Boehner, after earlier proposing doing something big himself, acknowledged on Saturday that a plan to save the government $4 trillion would not garner the support of Obama: We have 10 days to make a debt dealhis conservative colleagues, who are firmly opposed to bringing more revenue to government coffers.

During an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Mr. Obama "wants to do the largest possible deal that's going to do the most for the economy."

A Republican briefed on Sunday's meeting told CBS News that while GOP leaders also hope for a comprehensive deal, they don't see a feasible path for reaching such a compromise. The Republican indicated that tax increases remain a primary matter of contention in the talks, and that Boehner has shut down the suggestions that he move off his dollar-to-dollar debt limit increase-to-spending cut framework.

Boehner said Saturday that a more modest deal of $2 trillion - half of the original $4 trillion goal - was more reasonable, particularly in light of the suggestion, by Republicans, that the Vice President Joe Biden's bipartisan team had identified (although not agreed on) approximately $2 - $2.5 trillion in cuts.

Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who has been representing House Democrats in the talks with Biden, calls that figure "grossly inflated."

"It was never there. That's the problem," Van Hollen said of the $2 trillion in cuts, on a Monday appearance on CBS' "The Early Show." "What we talked about was about $1.1 trillion in cuts and savings. You're hearing grossly inflated numbers coming out from the Republican side. In the Biden group we did not get close to $2 trillion in cuts and again the gap there was closing these corporate tax loopholes."

"We did make some progress but at the end of the day as you know the republicans walked out of the talks," Van Hollen said. "Democrats agreed to some cuts, but at some point we said you need to have balance here. You cannot be whacking all these programs - and of course the Republican budget calls for the end of the Medicare guarantee, called for deep cuts in Medicaid and education. We've said we're not going to be doing those things when you've got people with these big tax loopholes, oil and gas companies. That's why the president is saying in some ways, doing the medium sized deal is just as hard as doing the big deal so why don't we just do a big deal and get something done for the country."

Boehner, however, appears firmly resistant to the idea of tax increases.

An aide for Boehner told CBS News Sunday that the Speaker reiterated during the meeting "the fundamental principles that must be met for any increase in the debt limit: spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the amount of the increase, restraints on future spending, and no tax hikes. The President agreed with the Speaker that their previous talks did not produce any agreement. The group agreed to continue talks in the coming week."

According to the aide, Boehner thought the Biden team was most likely to produce a "viable" deal.

"The Speaker told the group that he believes a package based on the work of the Biden group is the most viable option at this time for moving forward," the aide said.

In a Sunday night statement, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Obama's performance in the negotiations "disappointing."

"The members will meet again tomorrow, though it's disappointing that the president is unable to bring his own party around to the entitlement reform that he put on the table," Don Stewart, a McConnell spokesperson, said Sunday night.

"It's baffling that the president and his party continue to insist on massive tax hikes in the middle of a jobs crisis while refusing to take significant action on spending reductions at a time of record deficits," he added.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has continually insisted that any deal must not include reductions that would hurt the beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare programs.

"This package must do no harm to the middle class or to economic growth. It must also protect Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries, and we continue to have serious concerns about shifting billions in Medicaid costs to the states," she said in a Sunday night statement.

The former Speaker emphasized, however, that Democrats remain "hopeful for a large bipartisan agreement, which means more stability for our economy, more growth and jobs, and more deficit reduction over a longer period of time."

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated his commitment to a deal that included tax increases, and accused Republicans of taking "the easy way out."

"Senator Reid remains firmly committed to getting the most robust deal possible," said Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson. "He stressed the need for an approach that is balanced between spending and revenues, in terms of timing, specificity and dollars."

"Senator Reid believes the stakes are too high for Republicans to keep taking the easy way out," he continues. "He is committed to meeting every day until we forge a deal, however long that takes."

[OldGeezer43]

You wanna balance the budget? Fair enough. Bring home our troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. As for taxes, every one pays a percentage, no deductions, no exceptions. Cancel all foreign aid. Cut spending.
place tariffs on all goods not manufactured in the U.S. Term limits for all politicians. Its a start.

[SD92040]

I'm sure a deal will be reached. Just like California's "all cuts" agreement. In the end, spending for social programs will be gutted. Raise taxes? Not a chance.....

[rightbehind]

I say default. No more tax breaks for the wealthy. It's time to hand them an oar. It's time the wealthy got a chance to row so some of the rest of can have a break or freedom if you like.

[alphaa10000]

When the wealthy get a tax break, it means the rest of us must pay more for water, sewer, police protection, schools, etc, etc. A brazen fraud, if you can pull it off.

But the real problem is not merely a failure to pay their fair share, these porkers don't feel any obligation to pay for anything they can steal. They are literally robbing this country while we watch, deluging our media with lies that giving them more money means we get more back.

In barest essentials, the GOP is a class of con artists, with no sense of the American public interest. They are anti-patriots in the worst sense.

[rightbehind]

Here's a story for you teabaggers!

I love irony. I was talking with a man who supports the tea party yesterday whose mother has spent the past 6 years in a state nursing home before passing away. The family farm has he and his mothers name on it. The bill is more than 200 thousand dollars. The family farm will end up in the hands of the state unless he can come up with the money to pay it. He wanted more power for the states. If we had a single payer health care system he would be the one to inherit the family farm he would have owned the farm. That's the irony.

If he could have inherited the family farm he would have probably been done and not had to work another day of his life. Guess he didn't recognise freedom when he seen it.

Now for the ignorance. After all that I just told you he still believes Obama is the problem. I should have told him, "here's your sign".

[SparkysMom]

**Boehner is failing America** by protecting the tax breaks of the rich. Jobs are not the incentive, protecting priviledge is the goal. Do not be fooled by this rhetoric. This is propaganda repeated and repeated again until you believe. Do not believe it.

[rightbehind]

Let it default! I've had enough of tax breaks for the wealthy.

[wfw3536]

I am sure this is all a lot of talk like usual, and that there is nothing there to cutting 4 trillion. Time for Obama and the Reps to show the specifics. I am sure the media actually believes such a deal is in the works. How can a president come up with anything when just a few months ago he presented a budget to congress that actually showed an increase from the previous budget that was over a trillion dollars worth of red ink.

[rightbehind]

Let it default. Let the Obama tax breaks for the wealthy expire.

[The Invisible Hand]

"...they should come back today with alternatives that could pass both" the Republican controlled House of Representatives and the Senate, controlled by Democrats."
------------------------------------------

Thanks Pres Obama for babysitting congress to do their JOB.


Lets see, if I can see the future. Near the end of the timeline, there will be a compromise. No side will get 100% what their party speakers tell you they will not compromise on.

Then each side will announce victory and high five each other after a compromise has been reached.

Each side will have seperate press conferences to continue to bash the other side from making things take longer and clam a deal could have been made sooner.

Both sides will say they did it for the "American people" and had to put politics aside.

Please anyone else add the end of this story since it is the same story eveyday with this congress!

[The Invisible Hand]

Oh and they will say "tough decisions had to be made"... you have to say this now as a politician!

[sjc_1]

It makes sense to have a balance of revenue and spending cuts. By saying ONLY spending cuts the Republicans are taking us to the brink of default and claiming they are doing it for ALL Americans. I think most know who they are doing it for.