Democrats and Republicans are locked into a dangerous game of seeing who will crack first over the national debt crisis, with the White House warning that the next few days could be stressful for world markets and Americans.
With time running out, congressional leaders from both sides met on Saturday after the dramatic collapse of negotiations between Barack Obama and the house Republican leader, John Boehner, on Friday. But the congressional talks broke up late on Saturday night after failing to make progress.
The White House chief of staff, Bill Daley, interviewed on Sunday on CBS, predicted that the next few days will be tense. "In the end, we may have a few stressful days coming up – stressful for the markets of the world and the American people."
In an effort to reassure markets reopening after the weekend, he claimed he was confident a deal would be reached before the 2 August deadline. The White House refused to discuss what contingency planning is taking place in the event no compromise. » | Ewen MacAskill in Washington | Sunday, July 24, 2011
