U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that talks between Democrats and Republicans concerning debt limit and deficit reduction issues have achieved a "significant step."

U.S. President Barack Obama pauses during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington July 15, 2011. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
"Some progress was made, in some of the discussions. Some narrowing of the issues," Obama said at a White house briefing. But he warned that there is not much time left as the Aug. 2 deadline of debt ceiling closes in.

The president praised a deficit reduction plan by a group of bipartisan senators, the so-called "Gang of Six," as a "very significant step."

The group is proposing a new deficit-reduction plan aimed at averting a looming debt default. It plans to cut the deficit by more than 4 trillion dollars over the coming decade and suggest some tax increase.

Obama said that plan is broadly consistent with his approach and shows "shared sacrifice" of the two parties. But a broader agreement is still needed, he added.

"We don't have any more time to engage in symbolic gestures, we don't have any more time to posture. It's time to get down to the business of actually solving this problem," the president said.

The U.S. borrowing limit, currently at 14.29 trillion, was reached on May 16 this year. The U.S. Treasury Department said the country would default without an agreement to lift the limit by Aug. 2.

Republicans have refused to discuss any debt-reduction deal that includes higher taxes, while Democrats have rejected any deal based solely on spending cuts.

Obama said that the country's critical debt challenge should be addressed, but needed to be done in a "balanced approach."

He has offered a 4-trillion-dollar deficit reduction deal including certain tax increase to add revenue and spending cut on social welfare programs. However, Republican leaders rejected the deal, insisting on no higher taxes on all Americans, including the rich.

With the clock ticking toward an unprecedented debt default, global markets are losing patience. Rating agencies, including the Moody's and Standard & Poors warned a downgrading of the U.S. credit if the world largest economy were to default.

Obama said that both Republicans and Democrats should send a message to the world that the leadership in Washington will not send the economy back to the cliff.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet