Washington: US President Barack Obama on Monday increased pressure on Republican lawmakers to make concessions for a deal to avoid an Aug. 2 debt default and said both sides must "pull off the Band-aid" and make sacrifices.
"If not now, when?" Obama said.
The president met with top US lawmakers for the second-straight day in the search for a way to break a budget impasse that is holding up a vote on raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
The Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to cover the country's bills if Congress does not increase borrowing authority by August 2. Failure to act could push the United States back into recession, send shock waves through global markets and threaten the dollar's reserve status.
The lack of progress in debt talks was cited as a factor for a more than 1 percent decline in U.S. stocks on Monday.
Obama used the latest in a series of White House news conferences to urge lawmakers on both sides to stop putting off the inevitable and agree to tax increases and cuts in popular entitlement programs, trying to persuade Americans he is the grownup in a bitter summer battle over spending and taxes.
"What I've said to the leaders is, bring back to me some ideas that you think can get the necessary number of votes in the House and in the Senate. I'm happy to consider all options, all alternatives that they're looking at," Obama said.
Republicans are adamantly opposed to raising taxes while Obama's Democrats are equally determined to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the sacred cow pension and healthcare programs for the poor and elderly.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican, said he and Obama agree that current levels of spending, including entitlement spending, are unsustainable.
"The president and I do not agree on his view that government needs more revenues through higher taxes on job creators," Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill shortly before heading to the White House.
Obama said he is willing to accept some pain on his side but expects Republicans to move in his direction.
He wants a $4 trillion, 10-year deficit-reduction deal that Boehner walked away from on Saturday out of concern it would raise taxes.
"It's not going to get easier; it's gonna to get harder.
So we might as well do it now, pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas. I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done. And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing," Obama said.
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