Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are scrambling to quash a rebellion among some of their rank-and-file members over opposition to the party’s plan to raise the debt ceiling as the US continues to veer towards a possible default.
Heightened uncertainty over whether the country’s borrowing authority would be raised by early next week has gripped Capitol Hill and unnerved financial markets. “Time is running out, we need to come together now,” Jay Carney, White House press secretary, said. “We still believe that compromise is essential and possible.”
At a tense closed-door meeting with members of his own party on Wednesday, John Boehner, the House speaker, made a final appeal for conservatives to back his two-stage proposal to raise the debt limit… (more)
