May 10, 2011 Biden optimistic after budget talks
US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was optimistic after a new round of talks with Republicans on cutting the long-term deficit, as a high-stakes row rumbled on over government borrowing.
Biden emerged from the meeting with senior Republicans giving few details, but saying that each party was talking straight, being cordial and taking the issues and talks seriously.
"I remain optimistic ... we are making real progress," Biden said after the second round of talks on the issue, though added a note of caution: "Whether we get to the finish line with this group, is another question."
Republicans are demanding more steep spending cuts before they will agree to the White House's request to lift the 14.29 trillion dollar government borrowing ceiling, which will be reached on May 16.
If the ceiling is not raised by then, the Treasury could juggle payments, giving it until around July 8 before it runs out of cash.
If the limit is not lifted by July, the government would likely have to default on some of its loans, a move that could spark widespread financial panic and impact the global economy.
The debt talks represent the latest test of the uneasy political cohabitation in Washington between Obama's Democrats and Republicans who swept to power in the House of Representatives after November's mid-term elections.
Republicans argue that a long-term fiscal crisis awaits if long-term debt is allowed to swell at the current rate, and if the annual deficit, tipped to reach 1.6 trillion dollars this year, is not trimmed.
Republican House speaker John Boehner has said the cuts should be in terms of trillions and not billions of dollars.
Obama, who is under intense pressure over his management of the economy with his 2012 reelection race looming, last month laid out a plan for $4 trillion dollars of deficit reduction over 12 years.
The president says that the Republicans would seek cuts in vital social spending and on programs like Medicare health insurance for the elderly, which would make the poor pay the highest price for austerity.
Republicans, though, have savaged ideas for higher taxes on the most affluent Americans which are included in Obama's plans.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday that the Republicans were wrong to link cutting the deficit in the long-term with the debt ceiling vote.
"It is folly to hold hostage the vote to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the United States of America from defaulting on its obligations to any other piece of legislation," Carney said.
"We will get a fiscal agreement, we believe. We're optimistic. We believe we can get that. But to hold one hostage to the other remains extremely unwise in our view."
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US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday he was optimistic after a new round of talks with Republicans on cutting the long-term deficit, as a high-stakes row rumbled on over government borrowing.
Biden emerged from the meeting with senior Republicans giving few details, but saying that each party was talking straight, being cordial and taking the issues and talks seriously.
"I remain optimistic ... we are making real progress," Biden said after the second round of talks on the issue, though added a note of caution: "Whether we get to the finish line with this group, is another question."
Republicans are demanding more steep spending cuts before they will agree to the White House's request to lift the 14.29 trillion dollar government borrowing ceiling, which will be reached on May 16.
If the ceiling is not raised by then, the Treasury could juggle payments, giving it until around July 8 before it runs out of cash.
If the limit is not lifted by July, the government would likely have to default on some of its loans, a move that could spark widespread financial panic and impact the global economy.
The debt talks represent the latest test of the uneasy political cohabitation in Washington between Obama's Democrats and Republicans who swept to power in the House of Representatives after November's mid-term elections.
Republicans argue that a long-term fiscal crisis awaits if long-term debt is allowed to swell at the current rate, and if the annual deficit, tipped to reach 1.6 trillion dollars this year, is not trimmed.
Republican House speaker John Boehner has said the cuts should be in terms of trillions and not billions of dollars.
Obama, who is under intense pressure over his management of the economy with his 2012 reelection race looming, last month laid out a plan for $4 trillion dollars of deficit reduction over 12 years.
The president says that the Republicans would seek cuts in vital social spending and on programs like Medicare health insurance for the elderly, which would make the poor pay the highest price for austerity.
Republicans, though, have savaged ideas for higher taxes on the most affluent Americans which are included in Obama's plans.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday that the Republicans were wrong to link cutting the deficit in the long-term with the debt ceiling vote.
"It is folly to hold hostage the vote to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the United States of America from defaulting on its obligations to any other piece of legislation," Carney said.
"We will get a fiscal agreement, we believe. We're optimistic. We believe we can get that. But to hold one hostage to the other remains extremely unwise in our view."
http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?articleId=98429593&channelId=2951&buyerId=newsmeatcom&buid=3281
