Senate Debt Plan Gets High Marks

President Obama said “a very significant step” has been made over the debt-ceiling talks during remarks to the press Tuesday. The president lauded the bipartisan “Gang of Six” for bringing forth an ambitious plan to slice $3.7 trillion from the federal budget over the next decade, and said that the proposal was “broadly consistent” with his approach on reducing the deficit. “The hope is that everybody seizes this opportunity,” Obama said, as he urged lawmakers to reach a deal before the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. He admitted that a lot more negotiations remain, but for the first time in a while he sounded optimistic that a deal can be made.