US President Barack Obama speaks during a Town Hall meeting on the on-going efforts to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, on July 22, 2011. Obama joked in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that he would like “a debt ceiling deal” for his birthday. The White House and Congress, whose lower house is under Republican control, are currently engaged in tense negotiations in order to raise the 14.3 trillion USD debt ceiling by August 2, after which the US risks defaulting on its payments. AFP Photo/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)