US President Barack on Friday called on congressional leaders to stop "holding our economy captive" and rise above politics to reach a deal to lift the nation's debt limit, as crisis loomed dpa reported
"The power to solve this is in our hands," Obama said in a statement from the White House.
Congress must reach an agreement to raise the debt limit - which currently stands at 14.3 trillion dollars - by August 2 or the United States could default on debt payments and suffer a downgrade of its credit rating.
Obama warned such a scenario would further damage an already "fragile" economy and cause a interest rates to spike. Obama said the Democrats and Republicans are getting closer to a deal but said more compromises are needed.
"This is not a situation where the two parties are far apart," Obama said