WASHINGTON – Claiming that the two parties aren’t that far apart, President Barack Obama is urging Democratic and Republican lawmakers to reach a deal quickly to keep the government from defaulting on payments to veterans, Social Security recipients and others.
“There is very little time” he said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.
The Republican-controlled House on Friday passed a bill aimed at avoiding a debt default, voting 218-210 almost entirely along party lines.
It pairs an immediate $900 billion increase in U.S. borrowing authority, needed for the government to keep paying all its bills, with $917 billion in federal spending cuts. But Democrats strongly oppose a provision that says Congress must approve a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution and send it to the states for ratification before any additional increases in borrowing authority are granted.
In the Republican radio address, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said it’s important for the country to
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