Obama to meet with top congressional leaders tonight on debt crisis

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama will meet with the top Senate and House Democrats tonight amid the nation’s deepening political standoff over the federal debt.

The White House said late this afternoon that Obama had invited Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to the Oval Office.

Both parties are scrambling to come up with a plan to avert an unprecedented government default.

The nation will run out of borrowing power and will be unable to pay its obligations if the debt ceiling is not extended by Aug. 2.

House Republicans and Senate Democrats readied rival emergency fallback plans Sunday as bipartisan talks deadlocked.

Congress and the White House are seeking ways to cut the deficit in tandem with expanding the borrowing limit.