The RP’s Budget Crisis Update- July 24

After President Obama’s emergency debt talks ended following less than an hour of debt negotiations, Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi expressed frustration with Republican leadership being unwilling to compromise on a long-term debt deal. This gives the parties involved increasingly little time to put together a package before Asian stock markets open for business Monday. [NY Times]

Speaker Boehner told House Republicans in a conference call Saturday that he wanted to have a plan in place Sunday afternoon to avoid disrupting trading in Asia. He has said that the plan will be similar to the failed Cut, Cap and Balance plan and stay away from Sen. McConnell’s plan that would have allowed the President to raise the debt ceiling himself. President Obama, along with Congressional Democratic leadership, continues to assert that he will not sign a debt ceiling increase unless it extends through the end of the 2012 election cycle. [Politico]

Setting a conference call for 4:30 this afternoon (Sunday), Boehner has said he plans to release a debt ceiling plan that he is willing to advance without Democratic support. The plan, which bears some structural resemblance to one proposed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, would be a two-step process, involving a savings and tax cut package followed by entitlement reform. The parties are still in disagreement as to whether the debt ceiling should be raised enough to get through 2012, as the Democrats want, or in a two step process, which Boehner and other Republicans have suggested. [National Journal]

Stock and currency market watchers are on tenterhooks, waiting to see if and how recent progress (or lack thereof) in debt negotiations will affect financial markets, beginning in Asia around 5 p.m. on the East Coast. Secretary Geithner devoted time Sunday morning to warning of the possible repercussions of the lack of a deal, while some are accusing him of using scare tactics to back Republicans into a corner on debt negotiations. [Politico]

Although precise numbers are difficult to impossible to find, it is estimated that Republican-leaning groups are outspending their Democratic counterparts by a margin of between five and ten to one on television ads relating to the debt ceiling and deficit battles. Leading the pack is Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove-founded conservative group that is spending some $20 million in July and August to run the ads. In comparison, Democratic group Patriot Majority USA is spending $225,000 to run ads in Nebraska, Missouri, and Montana. [Politico]

Confused about the debt ceiling debate?  Want to learn how to have your voice heard? Click here to read the RP’s “Debt Ceiling for Dummies.”