President Barack Obama summoned top Democratic lawmakers back on the way to the White House Wednesday to resume negotiations on prevention a potentially crippling government default, as attention focused on a original bipartisan budget plan emerging in the Senate.
The White House also indicated Obama would be eager to sign a short-term debt limit increase — something he's opposed — if it's merely a stop-gap measure to permit time for a broader plan to get into place, something that likely couldn't be ended by the Aug. 2 deadline to increase the government's borrowing limit.
Obama's meeting with House and Senate Democratic leaders, designed for mid-afternoon Wednesday, marked a partial resumption of talks that ruined last week after five days straight of Obama huddling with lawmakers from both parties, with small progress to show for it. Republican officials said they expected a meeting among GOP leaders and the president later in the day.
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