AlHijjah 4, 1434, Oct 9, 2013, SPA -- U.S. President Barack Obama has invited House of Representatives Democrats to meet Wednesday at the White House to discuss the budget crisis and the looming debt-limit deadline, the first in a series of talks with lawmakers of both political parties, the White House said Wednesday. Other groupings, including Republicans from both chambers of Congress, will be invited in coming days, the White House said. With no solution visible to a fiscal drama that has started to unsettle financial markets, the meetings signal the beginning of an effort to avert a devastating debt default with only a week remaining before the Treasury Department exhausts its cash needed to pay U.S. obligations. Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (Republican from Ohio) traded accusations over the impasse Tuesday. Republicans want to delay, limit, or derail the 2010 healthcare reform law in exchange for approving temporary government spending legislation, and they are asking for deficit reduction talks in exchange for increasing the country's borrowing limit.
