More Debt Talks Set for Monday at White House
according to the Democratic aide, is that Republicans are "refusing to take yes for an answer because of their ideological adherence on revenues."

In addition, there were discussions of Vice President Biden's framework and how they could work off of that toward a potential agreement.

A spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell hits the president on entitlements following the meeting.

"The members will meet again tomorrow, though it's disappointing that the president is unable to bring his own party around to the entitlement reform that he put on the table. And it's baffling that the president and his party continue to insist on massive tax hikes in the middle of a jobs crisis while refusing to take significant action on spending reductions at a time of record deficits," McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told Fox News.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she still wants a "large, bipartisan agreement."

"We came into this weekend with the prospect that we could achieve a grand bargain. We are still hopeful for a large bipartisan agreement."

Before Sunday's meeting started, the president said a debt deal with Congress needs to be worked out in the next 10 days as the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation's debt ceiling looms.

As the meeting opened, Obama and the leaders sat around the table in Sunday casual dress. Asked whether the White House and Congress could "work it out in 10 days," Obama replied, "We need to."

Partisan tensions were flaring ahead of the critical summit, where aides say the president planned to make one last push for a major deficit-reduction deal amid doubts on both sides.

The talks still happened despite a surprise announcement from Boehner that rattled the almost-optimistic mood surrounding the negotiations.

The speaker, claiming the White House was pushing too hard for tax hikes while not pushing hard enough for entitlement reform, said Saturday evening that lawmakers should aim for a smaller deficit-reduction deal. Instead of the $4 trillion package officials were talking about just days ago, Boehner suggested negotiators aim for a deal that would be worth about half that over the next decade.

McConnell, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," confirmed that a $4 trillion package is now off the table.

"Everything they've told me and the speaker is that to get a big package would require big tax increases in the middle of the economic situation," McConnell told "Fox News Sunday."

Earlier in the week, Democrats had been sparring with the White House over its perceived willingness to deal with the GOP on entitlement reform. But Boehner's statement on Sunday turned their focus back to hammering Republicans for their insistence on no tax hikes in the deficit talks.

"All they want is to cut Medicare/Social Security and protect the rich," a senior Democratic congressional aide told Fox News.

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., said there must be "shared sacrifice" in any deal.

"Everything has to be on the table. But pretty quickly, my Republican colleagues said, everything should be on the table except taxes. That doesn't seem fair," he told "Fox News Sunday."

On the other side, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., accused Obama of "gaming Republicans."

"It's hard to take him seriously here," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

The partisan recriminations cast a pall over the talks Sunday evening. After a bipartisan meeting at the White House Thursday, officials were talking ambitiously about a grand bargain -- one which might cut spending, address all three major entitlements, achieve tax reform and make other monumental changes in exchange for a "yes" vote on raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling before an Aug. 2 deadline.

The fact that Republicans -- those pushing hardest for spending cuts and entitlement reform -- were scaling back those goals Sunday signaled the negotiations were still in a tenuous place.

White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley nevertheless said Obama will push for a big deal out of Sunday's meeting.

"Everyone agrees that a number around $4 trillion is the number that will make a serious dent on our deficit," Daley said. "That's what he wants to see. ... This president's still committed to doing big things."

Daley, speaking on ABC's "This Week," called Boehner's statement "unfortunate."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reiterated Sunday that a failure to negotiate a package and raise the debt ceiling by Aug. 2 would have "catastrophic" consequences for the economy.

However, he and other officials expressed confidence that no matter the course of negotiations, Congress will ultimately vote to lift the cap.

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