BOSTON (CBS) - In Washington, time is running out to resolve the debt crisis.

President Obama met separately today with leaders of both parties amid signs he may agree to a short-term fix to avert financial default.

This gridlocked mess is partly because all the possible answers contain political kryptonite, including one with serious implications for us here at home.

There are two plans drawing some support tonight from both parties.

The short-term fix offered by Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid, and a long-term plan being pushed by a group of Senators known as the gang of six.

WBZ-TV's Jon Keller reports

The gang of six plan would scale back popular middle-class tax breaks like the home mortgage interest deduction, which puts $97 billion back into homeowners pockets.

The Reid/McConnell option may grant major power over future tax changes and spending cuts to a commission modeled after BRAC, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that oversees cuts in the military.

That could be scary for New Englanders, especially hard-hit by the BRAC's push to close or shrink several job-laden regional bases in 2005, including the Otis Air National Guard base in Cape Cod and Hanscom Air Force base in Bedford.

The late Ted Kennedy helped blunt the cuts back then, but he's gone. And with other regions wielding more political power than New England these days, you wonder - could this cure be worse than the disease for the region?