Republicans in the US House of Representatives unveiled a plan yesterday that would avert a looming default, in a sign that lawmakers may end a standoff that has rattled markets and thrown the country’s future creditworthiness into question.

Barack Obama is hosting senior Republicans today to seek an opening in an impasse that has shut down much of the government and threatens a catastrophic federal default.

The United States has moved closer to the possibility of the first-ever default on the government’s debt as Speaker John Boehner adamantly ruled out a House vote on a straightforward bill to boost the borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama.

Politicians on both sides of the US congressional stalemate have been summoned for talks with president Barack Obama as the partial government shutdown showed little sign of a breakthrough.

Much of the vast machinery of the US government has ground to a halt as Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for a partial shutdown that closed federal agencies, national parks and research facilities across the nation.

House of Representatives Republican leaders have offered President Barack Obama a three-month reprieve to a looming, market-rattling debt crisis.

US politicians who hoped to resolve any uncertainty over the so-called “fiscal cliff” before financial markets reopen tomorrow ran into trouble today as the Republican-controlled House of Representatives objected to urgent legislation approved by the Senate in a New Year drama unlike any other in the history of Congress.

US President Barack Obama and Washington’s top Republican, John Boehner, met at the White House yesterday to try to reach a budget deal that would head off steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could push the economy into recession next year.

BARACK OBAMA was gripping the telephone so tightly it looked as if he were about to pulverise it in his hand.

The US Treasury Department said that the national debt has topped US$16 trillion (€12.7 trillion), the result of chronic government deficits that have poured more than US$50,000 (€39,746) worth of red ink onto federal ledgers for every man, woman and child in the United States.

US president Barack Obama broke his silence over claims that Secret Service agents hired prostitutes and said “of course I’ll be angry” if the accusations were true.

Efforts to avert a threatened US government default were thrown into renewed crisis today after House of Representatives speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off talks with President Barack Obama on a deal to make major spending cuts.

Republicans in the House of Representatives will hold a largely symbolic vote today, demanding a balanced budget constitutional amendment as their price for raising the US debt ceiling and avoiding a catastrophic US default.

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has blasted Republican leaders for what he sees as an uncompromising stance and urged cooperation between the two political parties regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s elections.

The Obama administration extended the $700bn (€475bn) bailout programme until October, setting the scene for a Congress battle.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “poisoned” the debate over a $700bn (€482bn) rescue package for the United States’ economy and caused the bill’s failure, Republicans said today.

A Republican revolt stalled efforts in Washington to agree a national economic rescue plan with negotiations broken off for the night and to resume later today.

The Iraqi government is achieving only patchy military and political progress, the Bush administration admitted, in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings.

With both houses of Congress debating war-related legislation, US politicians today awaited the Bush administration’s assessment of political, economic and military progress made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s government.

Republicans and Democrats alike are claiming victory as Congress moves this week toward passing a final Iraq spending bill that does not order US troops home.

The White House today acknowledged public frustration with the Iraq war but tried to play down Republican anxieties as the House of Representatives prepared to pass legislation that could cut off funding for US troops as early as July.

Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives circulated non-binding legislation today disapproving of the US President’s decision to deploy more than 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq.

The sex scandal that has hurt Republicans in the polls expanded on two fronts as Washington’s ethics committee continued its investigation.

The leader of the US House of Representatives’ job is on the line as members of the House ethics committee decide how to launch a credible investigation of former Congressman Mark Foley’s salacious computer messages to teenage pages.

Four months after the September 11 commission urged drastic changes to protect the United States from another terror attack, Congress today neared final passage of far-reaching legislation overhauling the US intelligence network and instituting new border and aviation security safeguards.