US lawmakers agree to debt deal framework

Congressional leaders of both parties and Obama have a deal to present to their caucuses,moving closer to a measure that could pass both chambers

US President Obama and Congressional leaders of both parties said late Sunday that they had agreed to a framework for a budget deal that would cut trillions of dollars in federal spending over the next decade and clear the way for an increase in the governments borrowing limit.

With the health of the fragile economy hanging in balance and financial markets watching closely,the leaders said they would present the compromise to their caucuses on Monday in hopes of enacting it before a Tuesday deadline to avert default.

Even as the president was speaking from the White House on Sunday night,Speaker John A Boehner was on a conference call with House Republicans,trying to sell them on the proposal he had signed off on only minutes before.

Since he is likely to lose the most conservative elements of his rank and file,Boehner faces the task of framing the pact as friendly enough to Republican principles to win over a significant group of House Republicans without alienating Democrats he will need to push it over the top.

President Obama,in a hastily called appearance with reporters that ended a day of uncertainty,said that the compromise would allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America.

It ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months,or eight months,or 12 months, he said. And it will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy.

Just before Obama spoke on television,the two Senate leaders,Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell,took the floor to endorse the pact as well.

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On Monday morning,the effort on all sides to sell the complex plan to their wider public constituencies began in earnest.CARL HULSE amp; HELENE COOPER