For the second time this week and the third time in 17 days, President Obama will hold a news conference at the White House, ready again to make his arguments for a comprehensive deal on both the budget and debt limit.
"I've said to the members of Congress, don't play games with this," Mr. Obama said in an interivew with TV reporter Scott MacFarlane of the Washington Bureau of Cox Media Group, my parent company.
"We have a responsibility to do the right thing," said the President, who seems likely to again hit the themes that Republicans shouldn't be posturing over this debt limit increase battle.
As for the talks on the debt limit, no negotiations are scheduled for today, though there could be a meeting over the weekend.
The White House seemed ready to bring Congressional leaders to Camp David for a weekend session, but the idea was given the thumbs down by several of those leaders, maybe demonstrating that these talks are at a final impasse.
"The only thing I hope he doesn't ask us to do is go to Camp David," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said to chuckles at a news conference Thursday.
"That goes beyond the pale," said Pelosi, who made clear she didn't want to leave Washington, D.C. for the weekend.
It was also made clear that Speaker John Boehner wasn't interested either. We'll see if the White House still makes the offer today or not.
As I wrote in another blog, the exit strategy for these talks seems to be an emerging deal being brokered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, which would allow for an increase in the debt limit as well as some spending cuts.
The President has made clear he wasn't really interested in that idea, which seems certain to be further explored at today's news conference.
"It’s not the preferred option that we have," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
"The President remains committed to working towards a bipartisan compromise agreement that significantly reduces the deficit and the long-term debt, addresses some of these major issues that have been before us in Washington for a long time," Carney added.
But on Thursday, Democratic plans for tax increases were once more rejected by Republicans, leading many in the Congress to believe that a variation of the McConnell plan is the best chance for both parties to raise the debt ceiling and avoid going over the edge into the political abyss.
Stay tuned.
