Obama to hold more debt talks with Senate Democrats

White House pushes for progress on debt talks as senators float new Medicare proposal

Sen. Joe Lieberman (i-Conn.), shown here at a May hearing, introduced a new proposal along with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to try to move along debt-limit negotiations. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

By Lisa Mascaro Washington Bureau

June 28, 2011, 10:26 a.m.

Reporting from Washington—

Senate Democratic leaders are headed to the White House on Wednesday to meet with President Obama as he seeks to break the stalemate with Republicans on debt reduction talks.
Negotiations are at a standstill with just weeks to go to raise the nation’s $14.3-trillion debt limit or risk what financial experts say would be a devastating federal default. Treasury officials say they will be unable to pay the nation’s bills by Aug. 2.
Republicans want to extract steep spending cuts in exchange for their vote to allow more borrowing capacity. Democrats want to reduce tax loopholes on corporations and wealthy Americans to raise new revenue, a proposition the GOP has refused.
On Tuesday, a bipartisan pair of senators introduced a proposal that would cut the costs of Medicare a main driver of budget deficits — by gradually increasing the eligibility age to 67 and requiring wealthier seniors to pay more out of pocket for premiums and care.read more.