Obama adviser: No time for 'doomsday scenarios'

[July 26, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers says the continuing stalemate over extending the debt limit is no place for "doomsday scenarios," saying efforts to resolve the impasse must be the singular focus.

But Gene Sperling sidesteps a question in an interview as to whether President Barack Obama would veto legislation coming from Congress that provides only a six-month extension of the debt ceiling.

He tells MSNBC Tuesday that he believes "the president has been pretty clear that he has found that unacceptable." But he stopped short of freshening the veto threat the White House has held out for such legislation.

Sperling says a compromise must be found because if officials fail to meet the challenge, "we still leave this cloud of uncertainty on the economy."

[Associated Press]

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