President Barack Obama said he opposes a deficit-cutting measurethat would only allow for a short-term increase in the country'sdebt limit as he called a meeting tomorrow with Republican andDemocratic lawmakers to work toward long-term fixes in thegovernment's finances.

The president's comments were the second time in less thana week that he has come to the podium to publicly push lawmakers tosecure a deal that addresses basic solutions to deficit spendingwhile averting a first-ever U.S. default on its obligations.

The Obama administration and congressional leaders areworking to complete a deal on a long-term budget reduction packageby July 22. That would give Congress enough time to craftlegislation raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit before Aug. 2,when the Treasury Department has said that its borrowing authorityexpires. Republicans have signaled that they could accept ashort-term package — an outcome that would force Congress to vote asecond time on the debt ceiling before the 2012 elections and thatObama would like to avoid.

“I don't think the American people sent us here to avoidtough problems,” Obama told reporters at the White House yesterday.“That's, in fact, what drives them nuts about Washington, when bothparties simply take the path of least resistance. And I don't wantto do that here.”

Responding to Obama's comments, House Speaker John Boehner saidthe president's proposals for new sources of revenue wouldn'tmuster enough support to pass Congress.

'Fruitless' Discussions
“I'm happy todiscuss these issues at the White House, but such discussions willbe fruitless until the president recognizes economic andlegislative reality,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said in astatement.

The White House and Democrats have been intensifying a showdownwith Republicans over whether tax increases should be part of afinal agreement. While Obama didn't go so far as to say that hewould veto a short-term measure, he said the negotiations present“a unique opportunity to do something big to tackle our deficit”and repeated his calls for a “balanced approach” to a solution thatincludes both spending cuts and revenue increases.

“It's my hope that everybody is going to leave theirultimatums at the door, that we'll all leave our political rhetoricat the door, and that we're going to do what's best for our economyand do what's best for our people,” Obama said. “This should notcome down to the last second.”

Another Option
Still the calendar mayforce another option. A more likely outcome is a short-termincrease in the debt ceiling coupled with commensurate spendingcuts that lawmakers agree to over the next couple of weeks, buyingthem time to complete work on a larger measure when they returnfrom their August recess, said Bill Hoagland, a former Republicanstaff director of the Senate Budget Committee.

“I think it's too late,” Hoagland said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote for laterthis week to demonstrate support in the Democratic-controlledchamber for raising taxes on people who earn $1 million a year ormore. His resolution calls on those taxpayers to “make a moremeaningful contribution to the deficit-reduction effort.”

The Democrats and the White House stepped up their push for taxincreases when Obama, during a June 29 news conference, accusedRepublicans of siding with corporate jet owners over assistance forchildren and the health care for the elderly.

White House Proposals
In negotiations ledby Vice President Joe Biden that collapsed two weeks ago, the WhiteHouse had proposed $400 billion in revenue increases, includingending tax breaks for corporate jets and for oil and gas companiesand phasing out deductions for taxpayers earning more than $500,000a year, according to participants, including Maryland DemocraticRepresentative Chris Van Hollen.

Such a high-stakes strategy gambles on Republicans droppingtheir objections to tax increases at the risk of an inter-partybacklash from tax opponents, said Ed Lorenzen, a senior adviser atthe Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisaneducation and policy center in Washington that examines fiscalmatters.

“The dangerous part is that everyone seems to be hardening theirpositions and ramping up their rhetoric,” Lorenzen said. “What'shard to know is whether this rhetoric is posturing to satisfy thebase or, more likely, both sides are really just locking themselvesin,” Lorenzen said.

There are few signs that the two sides have bridged theirdifferences since the Biden-led effort fell apart. Obama held onemeeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a KentuckyRepublican, on June 27, after which neither side reported anyadvancement in resolving their differences.

“Over the July Fourth weekend, my team and I had a series ofdiscussions with congressional leaders in both parties,” Obama saidyesterday. “We've made progress, and I believe that greaterprogress is within sight, but I don't want to fool anybody — westill have to work through some real differences.”

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