WASHINGTON — The threat of a first-ever default by the federal government is pushing President Barack Obama and Republicans toward a sweeping agreement to cut government spending and increase the Treasury’s borrowing authority. Yet a perennial partisan struggle over the Medicare program for seniors’ health care drives them apart.
Facing a dire warning from a credit rating agency, the Obama administration lobbied some of Congress’ most conservative members Thursday for an increase in the nation’s debt limit. Republicans responded that the surest way to reassure financial markets was to enact deep deficit cuts.
Face to face at the White House, GOP leaders complained to President Barack Obama on Wednesday that he had not produced a detailed plan of spending cuts and accused him of playing politics over Medicare as the nation careens toward a debt crisis.
PARIS — France’s frank, hard-working and chic finance minister, Christine Lagarde, emerged Friday as Europe’s likely choice to lead the International Monetary Fund.
WASHINGTON — The government has maxed out its credit card. The United States reached its $14.3 trillion limit on federal borrowing Monday, leaving Congress 11 weeks to raise the threshold or risk a financial panic or another recession.