President Obama set a Sunday deadline for negotiators in the debt talks to share their “bottom lines” so they can start the “hard bargaining” necessary to hash out a final deal before an Aug. 2 deadline.
Obama made the remarks after a White House meeting Thursday between the top eight Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. He said Congressional and White House staff would be working through the weekend to hammer out a deal before the “hard deadline” of Aug. 2 to raise the debt-ceiling or send the nation into default on its financial obligations.
Obama described the morning session as “constructive” but said there had been no breakthroughs toward a final deal.
“People were frank,” he said. “Everybody acknowledged that deficits are something that need to be tackled now…everybody acknowledged we have to get this done before the hard deadline of Aug. 2…and everyone acknowledged that there is going to be [political] pain involved on all sides.”
