Debt Talks 'Likely To Miss Deadline'

The Hill reports:

President Obama will now take a leading role in negotiations to raise the debt limit, a test of his leadership that will have profound economic effects.

It appears negotiators will miss the July 1 deadline they set for themselves to reach an agreement after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) abruptly withdrew from the talks last Thursday.

And there’s no clear path forward as the rhetorical positions of congressional Democrats and Republicans outside the talks have only hardened in recent days.

Obama will meet this morning with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and this afternoon with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Democratic aides characterized these meetings as an appeal to the “cooler heads” in the Senate.

Cantor’s sudden move was initially seen as a blow that threatened to collapse the talks. But Republican aides said Friday it was part of an expected and natural transition to the final phase, which they said would have to take place between the president and Congress’s highest-ranking leaders.