WASHINGTON (AFP) ? US President Barack Obama warned Republican foes Thursday that now is "decision time" in high-stakes negotiations to avert a potentially catastrophic debt default in early August.
After a fifth straight day of crisis talks at the White House with congressional leaders, Obama said he would not sign a short-term fix and demanded "the largest deal possible" on reducing America's ballooning debt.
"We need concrete plans to move this forward," the president said, calling a press conference at 1500 GMT on Friday on the deadlocked discussions, as he seeks to turn up the heat on Republicans to agree to a deal.
Thursday's talks failed to secure agreement between the bitterly opposed Democrats and Republicans on how to rein in the soaring US budget deficit, with a deal vital to avert the debt default.
"We're probably not going to meet tomorrow, this group. But we're going to continue to discuss the way forward over the next couple of days and we'll see what happens," Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.
Obama gave congressional leaders 24-36 hours "to find agreement on the path forward" and said failing that they would hold weekend negotiations, according to Republican and Democratic aides familiar with the latest meeting.
The president has been pushing for a large deal to close the yawning US budget deficit while raising Washington's $14.3 trillion "debt ceiling," enabling it to keep borrowing to provide key services beyond August 2.
In an interview taped before the latest round of talks, Obama warned Republican lawmakers against playing games.
"I think that at a certain point the American people run out of patience," he told local Philadelphia television CBS3, warning that could happen "if they think that people are playing games and are not serious about solving problems."
"What I did say to them, was very bluntly, the American people expect us to stop political postures, to stop playing games, and to solve this problem. And I was very blunt with them."
Economists and finance and business leaders have warned that failure to raise the US debt ceiling above the current $14.3 trillion by August 2 could send shockwaves through a world economy still reeling from the 2008 collapse. Republicans have refused to raise the debt ceiling without a commitment for spending cuts from Obama and his Democratic allies to rein in the deficit.
Republicans have so far stood firm on not agreeing to any tax increases, as a way of raising revenue.
But Obama warned: "We're not going to let Congress go on August recess have a one month vacation while this problem doesn't get solved."
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