As the federal government turns a debt ceiling debate into an international credit crisis, perhaps Washington could learn a thing or two from the states.

Roughly two dozen of the 46 states that just ended their fiscal year are on track to record surpluses, a budget analyst with the National Association of State Budget Officers said. The rest of the states are expected to at least balance their books.

Despite the weak economic picture, the state capitals managed to mop up the red ink through a combination of revenue increases and spending cuts -- because they have to...

House Republicans are prepared for a Tuesday vote on their signature debt-reduction plan that calls for a balanced-budget constitutional amendment, despite Democratic opposition and a White House veto threat.

Meanwhile, Senate party leaders said Monday they will keep their members in session every day - including weekends - until they agree to a compromise to increase the nation’s $14.29 trillion debt ceiling.

The House Republicans’ “cut, cap and balance” plan would raise the debt ceiling $2.4 trillion, but only after significant and immediate spending cuts and the adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget...

WASHINGTON – House Republican leaders are giving the tea party a chance to do things its way in the latest chapter in the saga over increasing the government's borrowing limit and avoiding a first-ever default.

The chamber will vote Tuesday on a "cut, cap and balance" plan to let the government borrow another $2.4 trillion -- but only after big and immediate spending cuts and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.

The plan is doomed in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the White House has promised a veto...

The debate over the debt ceiling moves Monday from the backrooms of the White House to the halls of Congress, as the House and Senate take up dueling measures to grapple with the problem.

Though the White House says the president still wants a "big" deficit-reduction deal linked to a debt-ceiling increase, a solid week of bipartisan talks yielded nothing close to a compromise -- leaving members of Congress instead moving on to a couple of risky proposals.

House Republicans will act first, pushing their "cut, cap and balance" plan at a committee hearing late Monday afternoon. That plan would cut spending immediately and cap future spending as a percentage of GDP, while requiring Congress to pass a balanced-budget amendment as a condition for raising the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion...

Fighting back against Republican calls for greater spending cuts, President Obama said Friday that the government doesn’t need to make major changes to get its budget back on track and called for that solution to include some trims coupled with tax increases.

“Here’s the good news: that it turns out we don’t have to do anything radical to solve this problem. Contrary to what some folks say that — we’re not Greece. You know, we’re not Portugal,” Mr. Obama said at his third press conference in three weeks, using his most powerful public relations tool to take his arguments directly to voters.

Mr. Obama and congressional leaders are negotiating over whether and how to raise the federal government’s borrowing limit, which early next month will bump up against the $14.29 trillion limit set in law. The administration, Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and leading business groups have all warned of major damage to the U.S.

The president takes to the microphone again today to bookend the week’s debt negotiations with a second news conference as American patience with the faltering negotiations wears thin. Leaders from both parties are taking break after five straight days of talks so they can get a sense of where their caucuses stand. House Republican leaders are holding a news conference of their own just before the president speaks to put their spin on the situation.

And with the Treasury Department’s August 2 deadline for hitting the debt ceiling approaching, they may be ready to settle on a short-term compromise rather than the long-term deal the Obama administration wants. A deeper deal would have to be voted on by next Friday in order to take effect before the nation hits its debt ceiling...

Tensions are flaring as lawmakers return to the negotiating table Thursday, after President Obama ended the last session by dressing down House Republican Leader Eric Cantor.

"Don't call my bluff," the president told Cantor, according to the GOP leader.

Democratic and Republican sources have offered several versions of the final moments of Wednesday's meeting -- by most accounts it ended on a low note, raising questions about whether negotiators can make any progress under increasing pressure to strike a deficit-reduction deal and raise the debt ceiling. A startling warning came Wednesday when credit rating agency Moody's said the U.S. government's impeccable credit rating was under review for a potential downgrade. The agency said the ongoing stalemate increased the risk of a first-ever default on the government's debt...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's debt-ceiling contingency plan is either a deft political stroke or a sellout of epic magnitude -- depending on who's looking at it.

Unfortunately for the GOP, this debate is playing out among Republicans.

McConnell's plan has created a rift among conservatives torn over whether the Kentucky senator is making the best of a bad situation or buckling under pressure. The intra-party dispute only adds to the confusion and uncertainty as Congress tracks, without a deal, toward what the administration claims is an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling or face default...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – As many as 100 Republicans would not vote for a negotiated debt ceiling increase if it does not include significant cuts in the first year, according to Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.). The freshman lawmaker said he and other freshmen members see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to curb uncontrolled spending.

During a Heritage Foundation event on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Huelskamp, “How important is it that you get the cuts early, in the context of a 10-year plan?”

“Someone asked that in conference this morning: Why aren’t the cuts in the first year?,” Huelskamp replied. “Neither side will tell you what the cuts are in the first year, even the folks that are negotiating for us. If the cuts are not made this year, then when will they be?”....

House Speaker John Boehner expressed doubt Tuesday about President Obama’s warning that if the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2, the elderly may not get their Social Security payments.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Boehner told Fox News’ Bret Baier in exclusive interview after the latest White House meeting with congressional leaders.

“The Treasury secretary is going to have options in terms of who should be paid and who shouldn't,” he said. “Yes, there are some debts that have to be rolled over. But there’s going to be money available on Aug. 3, and I think it’s way too early to be making some types of veiled threats like that”...