<![CDATA[RealClearPolitics - Articles by Molly Hooper]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/?id=19623Author <![CDATA[McConnell Expresses Optimism on Debt Deal]]> Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday he and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are fully engaged with the White House on a debt deal and expressed optimism an agreement will be reached. 

"I've spoken with the president and the vice president within the last hour and a half," McConnell said at a press conference with Boehner shortly after the House rejected Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) debt-ceiling plan. 

"We are now fully engaged with the one person "¦ who can sign a bill into law," McConnell told reporters. 

Fewer than three days before the Aug. 2 deadline for...]]>