(Newser)
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The end of Congress' tortured debt ceiling machinations isn't here yet, but it's in sight, says top Democratic negotiator Chuck Schumer, while adding that "It's premature to talk about any specifics." Schumer emphasized to State of the Union that the deal will be politically difficult to sell to his party, but says, "If there's a word that would be right here that would sum up the mood, it would be relief... Default is far less of a possibility now than it was a day ago." More from the Sunday dial, as per Politico:
- Mitch McConnell on President Obama and John Boehner: "We kind of wasted a week throwing volleys at each other across the Capitol."
- Jon Kyl on Tea Partiers: Those who say they're "standing on principle not to raise the debt ceiling remind me a lot of Senator Barack Obama who did the same thing."
- House Whip Kevin McCarthy on debt talk leadership: "You cannot be the leader of the free world and sit on the sidelines and tweet and think you're going to get the job done. Speaker Boehner has been the leader on this, of changing Washington."
- White House economic adviser Gene Sperling on Plan B: "While there are contingency plans being done, there are no good options. They are very very dire. Right now, our focus is on this agreement."
- David Plouffe on where things stand: "We don't have a deal" between Obama and congressional Republicans, he said on Meet the Press. But both sides are, as the AP puts it, "generally in agreement."
