Senate misses recess for White House debt ceiling talks

The US Senate is working through its July recess in frantic talks with the White House on a deal to raise the US government's borrowing limit.

The government risks defaulting on its debt if Congress does not enact more borrowing authority by 2 August.
Republicans say they refuse to consider raising taxes, while Democrats are calling for a "balanced approach" that protects favoured social programmes.
It is unclear how close the two sides are to a deal.
The US currently runs an estimated $1.5 trillion (£932bn) annual budget deficit, and has already exceeded the national debt limit of $14.3tn.
The government's borrowing authority is limited by statute.
Historically, Congress raises the debt limit as a matter of routine, but this year a newly empowered faction of conservative, anti-tax Republicans are keen to extract dramatic cuts in government spending as the price of raising the limit, analysts say.
'Unaffordable' tax breaks On Saturday, Mr Obama said Republican and Democratic negotiators had identified $1tn in spending cuts.

And he urged negotiators to consider scaling back tax breaks that benefit wealthy individuals, including low income tax rates for hedge fund managers, benefits for corporate jet owners and subsidies for oil and gas companies.

"It would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can't afford them," he said.
"Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires... then we'll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else."
Republican Senator Dan Coats of Indiana said on Saturday that reducing spending was the key to reaching a debt ceiling agreement.
"The president and Democrats in Congress must recognise that their game plan is not working," he said.
"It's time to acknowledge that more government and higher taxes is not the answer to our problem. It's time for bold action and a new plan to address our current crisis."
While congressional Republicans remain set against raising taxes, in recent days some senior Republicans have indicated they might consider cutting so-called tax expenditures - loopholes in the tax code and subsidies for special interests.
Last week, Mr Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden met Senate leaders of both parties, after Republican leaders of the House of Representatives walked out of debt talks.

Posted in: US