US News

Obama walks abruptly out of ‘tense’ White House debt meeting, Cantor says

WASHINGTON — The fourth consecutive day of debt meetings between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties ceased abruptly with Obama walking out of Wednesday’s talks, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said.

Cantor told FOX News Channel that the approximately two-hour meeting at the White House Wednesday “ended with president abruptly walking out of the meeting.”

He said Obama shoved back from the desk and said “we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“We are very far apart right now,” Cantor told FOX, adding, “The progress we made seems to have been erased now.”

“He [Obama] became very agitated. Said ‘Ronald Reagan wouldn’t sit here. You either have to compromise on the dollar figure or the grand bargain’ … He said ‘don’t call my bluff. I’m going to the American people on this.'”

A Republican aide described Wednesday’s gathering to FOX as the “most tense of the week.”

But a senior Democratic source disputed Cantor’s account of meeting, telling FOX that the president had instead shut down Cantor’s continual interruptions about a possible short-term deal.

“Obama was concluding the meeting, giving the closing remarks and talking about meeting tomorrow,” the source said.

“Cantor interrupted him and raised for the third time doing a short-term [after it had already been addressed twice], and Obama shut him down. Cantor was playing the role he’s been playing throughout this whole thing — being not productive.”

When asked if they had made progress in the last round of negotiations, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said “no,” according to Politico.

“The president is putting a lot of time and energy into getting an agreement, and it’s tough,” Hoyer said.

Both sides will meet again at the White House at 4:15pm Thursday — the fifth consecutive day they will have met in an attempt to come up with a deal.

Obama is urging leaders to accept a deal that cuts $4 trillion from the deficit over 10 years, but expectations for an agreement of that size have diminished.

Negotiations in Washington have continued as government leaders seek to ensure the country’s debt ceiling is increased before an Aug. 2 deadline. Talks have been grinding along in recent days amid partisan bickering between Democrats and Republicans about how to cobble together a deal that both sides can live with.

Wednesday’s meeting came as Moody’s Investors Service placed the US Aaa government bond rating and related ratings on review for possible downgrade, amid increasing concerns the government might default on its debt — raising the pressure on lawmakers ahead of Aug. 2.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for the House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said, “As Speaker Boehner has warned for months, if the White House does not take action soon to address our nation’s debt crisis by reining in spending, the markets may do it for us. This action by Moody’s today reinforces the Speaker’s warning.”

The Obama administration agreed that the rating agency’s move was a good reminder of the need to solve the nation’s fiscal crisis. However, members put the onus on Congress.

“Moody’s assessment is a timely reminder of the need for Congress to move quickly to avoid defaulting on the country’s obligations and agree upon a substantial deficit reduction package,” said Jeffrey Goldstein, the US Treasury Department’s undersecretary for domestic finance.

The Treasury Department has said if a deal is not reached by Aug. 2, the US would default on its debt. Obama has said such a move could pull the US back into a recession.