President Obama and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan had heated words for one another after the president called a rare private meeting with Republican lawmakers Wednesday to resolve a standoff over the debt ceiling. The pointed exchange was described as “very frank,” highlighting the huge gulf that remains between the two sides over the GOP’s plans to overhaul and slash Medicare. Obama has refused to slash Medicare and said that the consequences of crippling the government’s borrowing power would be catastrophic. Ryan at one point suggested that Obama had engaged in “demagoguery” and received a standing ovation from his colleagues during the meeting.
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