Scott Horsley

President Obama has endorsed a plan from the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Six" that would shave nearly $4 trillion off the deficit over the next 10 years.

The major credit rating agencies have warned that the government needs at least that level of deficit reduction to preserve its top-notch bond rating. It's a powerful message from the rating agencies, which were largely discredited in the years leading up to the financial crisis.

Defaults Driven By Politics

The week in Washington began and ended with presidential news conferences. In between, there were daily meetings between President Obama and leaders of Congress over what to do about the federal deficit as the deadline nears for raising the federal debt limit.

But despite some dire warnings about defaulting on some of that debt, the government seems no closer to an agreement that could solve either its short- or long-term budget woes.

With time running out to raise the nation's debt ceiling, President Obama hosted another bargaining session with leaders of Congress Monday. He's trying to persuade both Republicans and Democrats to compromise on a plan to shave trillions of dollars from the federal deficit. "I'm prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done. And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing, if they mean what they say: that this is important," he said.

It turns out that was no bump in the road the economy hit this spring. It was more like a concrete jersey barrier.

Hiring came to a near standstill last month, with paltry gains in the private sector almost completely offset by layoffs in the government. A report from the Labor Department shows employers added just 18,000 jobs in June. That's even worse than the dismal numbers from the month before. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ratcheted up to 9.2 percent.

There wasn't a scrap of good news in the Labor Department's report for President Obama to seize on.

Washington lawmakers returned from a long holiday weekend on Tuesday, with just four weeks left to raise the federal debt ceiling or run the risk of a government default.

Many lawmakers insist that they won't vote to raise the debt limit unless there's also a deal to cut the deficit.

That would leave the government, which now borrows more than 40 cents of every dollar, suddenly without a working credit card.