Vice President Joe Biden and six leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers have now met a half-dozen times as they try to work out their differences and reach a deal to reduce trillion dollar budget deficits.
Thursday's Capitol Hill meeting took place amid growing pressure at home and abroad for an agreement that would let Congress raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling before an August 2 deadline, when the Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to pay the nation's bills.