Democrats still oppose short-term US debt plan

Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for just over an hour late Sunday amid intense negotiations to broker a deal with Republicans to avoid a disastrous August 2 debt default.

"In the meeting the president received an update on the state of negotiations on the Hill from leader Pelosi and leader Reid," a White House official said asking not to be named.

"And the leaders and the president reiterated our opposition to a short-term debt limit increase."

Earlier US administration officials had insisted that any deal to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and lift the threat of the world\'s largest economy defaulting must go beyond the November 2012 elections.

Obama and top lawmakers are searching for an elusive deal to avert an unprecedented US default which could happen as early as August 2 when the government runs out of funds to pay its bills.

"The most important thing is that we remove this threat of default from the country for the next 18 months," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN earlier. "You want to take this out of politics."

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