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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Foreign demand for U.S. Treasury securities rose to a record level in February, indicating that international investors remain confident in U.S. debt despite budget wrangling in Washington.The Treasury Department said Monday that foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities increased 0.3 percent in February from January to a record $5.66 trillion. It was the 14th straight monthly increase.

The Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee is breaking down President Obama's budget with this preliminary analysis:The budget will be released next week "The figures regarding the President’s plan are based on numbers reported in the media today, the table posted on the White House (WH) website, and information regarding Senator Murray’s budget resolution," says the minority side of Senate Budget Committee.

Video -- Senate passed Budget Last Night - March 22, 2013:related threads:Senate approves Democratic budget plan that recommends $1 trillion in tax increases ... (AP)-------House Passes Ryan Budget, 221-207 Townhall.com ^ | March 21, 2013 | Guy Benson

Goldman Sachs suggests a downgrade of U.S. credit is increasingly likely and experts continue to warn that a weakened credit rating would have significant financial repercussions in the markets, but at least one member of Congress has accepted that a downgrade might be deserved.“Until we stop spending more, we should be downgraded,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said this morning on the Fox Business Network. The Hill reports more details: The credit-rating agencies Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s both put the nation’s triple-A credit rating on review for a downgrade...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's insistence that Congress solve the nation's debt crisis through the 2012 elections emerged as a key sticking point as Democrats and Republicans urgently pieced together competing plans Monday to prevent a first-ever government default next week. House Speaker John Boehner forged ahead with a plan to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by about $1 trillion, along with commensurate spending cuts. That would require lawmakers to go through the painful process again next spring with an even larger debt and deficit package.With little more than a week before an Aug. 2 deadline, Obama...

President Barack Obama called Democratic and Republican leaders back to the White House on Wednesday for bottom-line negotiations on how to prevent a disastrous government default - and cut staggering federal deficits as well.The White House said for the first time that Mr Obama would accept a short-term extension of the debt limit, but only if a broader deal was already in place and required more time - perhaps a few days - to get through Congress.The President had previously threatened to veto any stop-gap measure.*******************************RXCERPT*********************************************** Only way is up: How the U.S. debt has grown since 1981

********************************************** (AP)  WASHINGTON — The next step in the weeks-long saga over how to increase the government's borrowing cap is to let House tea party forces try it their way. A Republican "cut, cap and balance" plan set for a House vote Tuesday would condition a $2.4 trillion increase in the so-called debt limit on an immediate $100 billion-plus cut from next year's budget and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. "Let's let the American people decide," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on "Fox News Sunday." "Do they want something common sense as cutting...