Obama calls Democratic leaders to White House

President Barack Obama summoned top Democratic lawmakers back on the way to the White House Wednesday to resume negotiations on prevention a potentially crippling government default, as attention focused on a original bipartisan budget plan emerging in the Senate.

The White House also indicated Obama would be eager to sign a short-term debt limit increase — something he's opposed — if it's merely a stop-gap measure to permit time for a broader plan to get into place, something that likely couldn't be ended by the Aug. 2 deadline to increase the government's borrowing limit.

Obama's meeting with House and Senate Democratic leaders, designed for mid-afternoon Wednesday, marked a partial resumption of talks that ruined last week after five days straight of Obama huddling with lawmakers from both parties, with small progress to show for it. Republican officials said they expected a meeting among GOP leaders and the president later in the day.

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Senate cancels break as budget battle heats up

Democrats stepped up their harass in a tense budget battle with Republicans on Thursday as the Senate disregarded its July 4 recess and a top lawmaker accuse Republicans of deliberately sabotaging the financial recovery.

With time running short before a likely default in early August, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he would hold the chamber in session after that week to work on a budget deal that would permit the country to keep paying all its bills.

One day after President Barack Obama compares Senate Republicans to lazy schoolchildren, the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said Obama be supposed to come to Capitol Hill as soon as possible to talk about what could pass Congress.

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