Obama to make press statement at 2200 GMT

The White House said Obama will make his statement at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) © AFP Jewel Samad

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will make a statement Friday expected to address arduous negotiations on a deal to avert a ruinous early August debt default, the White House said.

The White House said Obama will make his statement at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) in the building’s press briefing room.

Earlier, Republican House Speaker John Boehner warned that he and Obama were “not close” to a deal and forecast a “hot weekend” of talks.

With time running out before August 2, when the cash-strapped government of the world’s richest nation will be unable to pay all of its bills, top economic officials huddled to weigh the implications of an unprecedented default.

But Obama assured a town hall-style audience at the University of Maryland just outside Washington that “the  United States of America does not run out without paying the tab.”

“We have never defaulted on our debt. We’re not going to do it now,” said Obama, who has called for deficit cuts in the trillions of dollars in connection to raising the US debt limit from its current $14.3 trillion.

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license