'Humpty' fiasco President Obama's big "eat your peas" debt deal is now looking more like scrambled eggs, as lawmakers appear unable to stop the food fight over raising the debt limit.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said yesterday that his last offer of a deal with Obama is still on the table, but added cryptically, "It may be pretty hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again."
White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, who said Obama won't accept a short-term debt-limit extension, fumed, "We've been at this for a lot longer than six months, and the Congress cannot seem to get its act together in order to do serious budget reform.
"We may have a few stressful days coming up -- stressful for markets of the world and the American people," Daley added on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Boehner made plans yesterday to move his own plan to hike the debt ceiling by $1 trillion with accompanying spending cuts, while Senate Democrats were working furiously on a plan to raise the debt limit by $2.4 trillion with no tax hikes.
A source said Boehner (R-Ohio) he told a conference call with Republicans, "We need a vehicle that can pass in both houses." He called for Republicans to "pull together as a team behind a new measure that has a shot at getting to the president's desk."
Rep. Pete King (R-LI), who was on the call, said, "I didn't feel anything definite, except that he said he does not want to default . . . It's still very fluid."
Obama met with Democratic leaders at the White House yesterday.
If the United States were to default or even come close, it could lead to a sell-off of US bonds, rising interest rates, a sapping of economic confidence, and worldwide economic blowback.
While financial analysts warned yesterday that the ongoing turmoil would lead to panic in international markets, Japan's Nikkei Average was down today just 0.6 percent after about two hours of trading.
