WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and congressional leaders are scrambling for a way forward on the debt crisis after House Speaker John Boehner threw negotiations into disarray by walking out on them.
Obama called Boehner to come back to the table Saturday along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. It follows Boehner's rejection Friday afternoon of one-on-one talks with the president — though each blamed the other for the failure.
Now the leaders have less than two weeks before an Aug. 2 deadline to figure out a deal to cut deficits and raise the debt ceiling or risk seeing the U.S. default on its financial obligations for the first time. All sides say they want to avoid that dire outcome.