After an hour long meeting between Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and Speaker John Boehner Saturday evening, there still appears to be no deal. Reid is claiming the Senate will not negotiate a short term budget deal despite Boehner's earlier calls for a plan before 2 pm on Sunday afternoon.
From Roll Call:
The hastily-convened meeting in Speaker John Boehner's offices included Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The quartet is trying to hammer out a final debt deal before Aug. 2, when the Treasury Department says the nation may not be able to pay all its bills without an increase in borrowing authority. Lawmakers and their staffs are expected to work through the weekend to try to resolve the impasse over raising the debt limit and assembling an accompanying deficit reduction plan.
An earlier gathering of leaders at the White House lasted less than an hour and did not produce significant progress.
One of the sticking points appears to be whether Congress should pass a short-term debt ceiling increase.
On Saturday evening, Reid reaffirmed that he would "not support any short-term agreement, and neither will President [Barack] Obama nor Leader Pelosi. We seek an extension of the debt ceiling through at least the end of 2012."
House Republicans have discussed a short-term deal in the range of $1 trillion, with accompanying spending cuts. Democrats have consistently said they would oppose such a measure, although Obama said he would consider signing a very brief stopgap only if a long-term deal was near being finalized.
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