While his aides conceded that a stopgap measure may be necessary to avert a federal debt crisis on Aug. 2, President Obama met first with Democrat then Republican lawmakers Wednesday for arm-twisting sessions aimed at building support for a much bigger deal with deep cuts that would follow. “We continue to push for the biggest deal possible,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday. “We are also pragmatic and realistic and committed to the notion that we absolutely must take action before Aug. 2,” when the U.S. Treasury says the government must raise its debt ceiling or risk defaulting on its debt. “You have to accept that things can’t turn up and be voted on and reconciled and all the things that need to happen all in one day.”
The president has been aiming for a deal that would raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and cut roughly $4 trillion from the federal deficit over 10 years, largely through ending tax loopholes and cutting entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
After negotiations based on that plan essentially stalled at the White House last week, Obama embraced a proposal generated by “Gang of Six” senators that would achieve roughly $3.7 trillion in savings.
But lawmakers quickly cast doubt on the prospect that Congress could hammer out the details of the Gang of Six plan in time to turn it into a detailed piece of legislation and vote on it by Aug. 2.
That’s why Obama is now considering smaller proposals that would, “at the very least,” raise the debt ceiling in time to reach the Treasury’s deadline, Carney said.
Obama had previously ruled out any proposal that would only temporarily extend U.S. borrowing capacity, because that would force him to repeatedly make the politically unpopular move of raising the debt ceiling every couple weeks or months.
But he is now open to a short-term debt ceiling extension if it is tied to a broader deficit-reduction package that could be passed soon afterward, Carney said.
“If both sides agree on something significant, we will support the measures necessary to finalize the details,” he said, adding that a stopgap measure must be limited to “a few days.”
The White House meetings with lawmakers Wednesday were aimed at building support for a proposal that would include deep cuts and raise taxes by eliminating loopholes. “Democrats need to be convinced to make Medicaid and entitlement cuts” if the president is going to ask Republicans to swallow new revenues, Carney said.
Obama is also trying to build support around a “fallback” plan fashioned by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which would enable the president to achieve $1.5 trillion in long-term savings and raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval several times over the next 18 months.
