WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has declared "enough is enough," and is demanding that budget negotiators find common ground by week's end to resolve the nation's debt limit. Meanwhile, the Senate's top Republican gained followers for his own last-ditch scheme to avoid a government default.
The continuing impasse was unsettling Wall Street, and a looming Aug. 2 deadline for action was creating new tensions between the president and Republican leaders.
Moody's Investors Service says it will review the government's credit rating and a Chinese rating agency issued its own warning. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that failing to increase the nation's debt ceiling would send "shock waves through the entire financial system."
In the latest bargaining session, Obama grew frustrated with a Republican leader and brought the meeting to an abrupt end.