White House, Spending Cuts | featured news

U.S. President Barack Obama and John Boehner, the top Republican in Washington, met at the White House on Monday to try to reach a budget deal that would head off steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the economy into recession next year.

It may not sound like it from the rhetoric, but both the House and Senate have passed separate bills to delay big tax increases awaiting nearly every taxpayer next year if Congress and the White House can't agree on a plan to avert the "fiscal cliff."...

The White House signaled on Wednesday it could support a short-term increase in the U.S. borrowing limit for "a few days" if lawmakers agreed to a broad deficit reduction deal but needed more time to pass it.

In advance of Thursday’s White House meeting to resolve the stalemate in the debt talks, we've learned that Obama and Speaker Boehner share a goal to prove they can get a 'big' deal done.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet Monday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to discuss "the status of the negotiations to find common ground on a balanced approach to deficit reduction," according to the White House.

An unusual round of golf won't solve the Republican-Democratic budget battles, but it could lead to better relations between the White House and Congress. The president prefers a laid-back round on a Sunday morning.

Ratings agency Moody's warned on Thursday it would consider cutting the United States' coveted top-notch credit rating if the White House and Congress do not make progress by mid-July in talks to raise the debt limit.

Republican lawmakers are stepping up pressure on the Obama administration to craft a Plan B just in case budget talks fall through and the debt ceiling remains frozen past the Aug. 2 deadline Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has set.

The White House on Monday urged Republicans not to tie an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to spending cuts and admitted that President Barack Obama's own vote against an increase in 2006 was a "mistake".

Struggling to avert a government shutdown, Republicans and Democrats each said Wednesday the other would be to blame if compromise talks on the budget fail to produce an agreement.