Obama, Boehner Continue War of Words Over Debt Ceiling Talks

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 26, 2011 1:09PM

For the second time in four days, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner took to the nation's airwaves to plead their respective cases for an end to the stalemate in Washington that has the government on the brink of defaulting on its debt.

The president threw his support behind the proposal from Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, which is smaller than the original $4 trillion dollar deficit reduction package Obama proposed earlier and does not include the tax increases on higher wage earners Obama has been seeking. Boehner's proposal, a "two-step" process that had five steps listed on its front page, calls for $3.1 trillion in budget cuts, with no tax increases. (Take a look at a side-by-side comparison of the two proposals here.)

Obama called the GOP plan a stopgap measure that would lead to greater financial problems in six months' time. Obama also denounced the "three-ring circus" the negotiations have become and called for both congressional Republicans and Democrats to grow up and get serious. “The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government," the president said.

Boehner, in his address, said the president was responsible for the stalemate.

"The sad truth is that the president wanted a blank check six months ago, and he wants a blank check today. That is just not going to happen,” the speaker said. “The president has often said we need a ‘balanced’ approach, which in Washington means we spend more, you pay more.”

Meanwhile, the nation is fast approaching an Aug. 2 deadline to have legislation in place to raise the debt ceiling or the Treasury won't be able to pay all its bills, triggering a default that will threaten a fragile economic recovery, lowering the nation's bond rating and sending a ripple effect through global stock markets.