US debt deal 'very close,' top Senate Republican says

Jul 31, 2011 |

Washington

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The top Republican in the Senate said Sunday he was ‘very close’ to reaching an agreement with Democrats on a deal to raise the US debt ceiling and avoid default.

"I'm very close to being able to recommend to my members that we have an agreement here that is worth supporting," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told CNN's ‘State of the Union’ programme.

McConnell said Republican leaders and the White House were working on a package that would cut spending by $3 trillion and cap spending over the next 10 years. He said there would be no tax increases.

"I think I can confidently say this debt ceiling increase will avoid default, which is important for everybody in America to know we are not going to have a default for the first time, and we're not going to have job-killing tax increases in it, and we will deal with the problem, and that's that the government has been spending too much," he said.

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