Republicans bail on budget talks, blame Democrats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Repub­li­cans pulled out of debt-reduction talks led by Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden with a flour­ish on Thurs­day, blam­ing Democ­rats for demand­ing tax increases as part of a deal rather than accept­ing more than $1 tril­lion in cuts to Medicare and other gov­ern­ment programs.