Obama challenges Congress: Do 'something big'

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday challenged Congress to compromise and "do something big" to reduce long-term deficits, insisting he was willing to make his own tough choices including trimming benefits for wealthy Medicare recipients. Facing a critical Aug. 2 deadline to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama said the public was on his side but "we're running out of time."

Obama urged Republican lawmakers to make tough calls, too. He attempted to turn their opposition to any tax increases back against them, warning that a government default caused by failure to raise the debt ceili...