Debt talks: Boehner says spending cuts alone reflect ‘balance’ Obama seeks

As he and other congressional leaders made their way to the White House for continued negotiations, House Speaker John Boehner closed the door further on a big deficit-reduction deal Monday, and talks with President Obama stalemated with only weeks left to avert a financial crisis.

Despite Obama’s call for a balanced approach on a package of spending cuts and new revenues, Boehner said Republicans see the issue differently: GOP leadership believes that giving their votes to raise the nation’s $14.3-trillion debt limit in exchange for deep spending cuts is compromise enough.

“Most Americans would say a balanced approach is a simple one: The administration gets its debt-limit increase and the American people get their spending cut,” Boehner said.

The country risks a federal default if the debt limit is not raised in a matter of weeks. Boehner said he had hoped to strike a larger deal, but had to end talks because of the White House’s insistence on taxes that his party would not support.

“Our disagreements are not personal,” he said about the president. The two have expressed appreciation for each other’s sincerity in the talks.

Obama has pursued tax increases on the top 2% of American households primarily by allowing the top tax bracket to change in 2013, as it is scheduled to do by law. Talks broke down over the tax issue.

The No. 2 Republican leader in the House, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has taken an even harder line in negotiations. He scoffed at Obama’s insistence Monday that he would not agree to any deal that did not require more shared sacrifice from wealthier Americans.

“He can write a check any time he wants,” Cantor said.

The GOP has been unwilling to raise tax revenue as part of the debt deal, something budget hawks have said would be a necessary component of any sweeping agreement to substantially cut deficits. Spending cuts alone would be too deep to make up such a package of $4 trillion in reductions, fiscal experts have said. Democrats share that position.

Boehner insisted Monday that he walked away from talks over the weekend because of the tax issue and because the administration was unwilling to make difficult cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs. Democrats have protested such cuts.