(Bloomberg News) President Barack Obama is pressuring Congress again to act on a set of proposals to help small businesses amid signs that Republican leaders are gearing up for an election-year standoff over the federal budget.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to comment after leaving a White House lunch with Obama. The White House set the meeting to talk about the legislative agenda between now and the November elections that will decide which party controls the White House and Congress.

Obama is promoting his five-point "to-do" list for Congress, which includes tax incentives for small businesses to boost hiring. Before going into the meeting, Boehner derided Obama's proposals, saying the president is "playing small ball" while ignoring "big looming problems facing our country."

In his bid for re-election, Obama is seeking to make the case that congressional Republicans are blocking initiatives that would promote job creation and economic growth while offering a rehash of proposals on taxes and regulation that haven't worked in the past. He has accused presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of being a "rubber stamp" for the Republican majority in the House.

Standoff With Obama

Boehner yesterday signaled that Republicans in the chamber are ready to renew a budget standoff with Obama, saying any future increase in the nation's debt limit be matched by at least as much in spending cuts.

"Allowing the debt ceiling to go up without addressing our fiscal challenge would be the most irresponsible thing that I could do," Boehner said in a speech yesterday before a conference in Washington sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, accused Boehner of making a "reckless" threat to keep the U.S. from paying its bills.

Boehner said today he is "not threatening default." The Ohio Republican said he intended to press Obama to to lay out his plans "to tackle our looming debt crisis" and for preventing taxes from rising on Jan. 1.

Earlier Battle

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama urged the congressional leaders to avoid another "self-inflicted" fiscal crisis over the debt ceiling.

A political battle over raising the debt limit last year took the U.S. to the brink of default. After months of negotiations on federal spending, Obama signed compromise legislation to lift the debt ceiling on Aug. 2, the day the Treasury had warned the nation's borrowing authority would expire.

The White House and Congress face a crush of tax and spending decisions at the end of this year. Income tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush will expire, as will a temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax. More than $1 trillion in automatic spending cuts are set to begin taking effect, extended unemployment benefits will run out and the government will again brush up against its $16.394 trillion legal cap on borrowing.

In a speech yesterday in Des Moines, Iowa, Romney accused Obama of contributing to a mounting deficit that he said stifles economic recovery and "threatens what it means to be an American."

Treasuries

While Romney and congressional Republicans are attacking Obama on government spending and the nation's debt, Yields on the government's benchmark 10-year notes rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 1.78 percent at 2:02 p.m. New York time, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. Rates are about one-quarter of the 50-year annual average of 6.49 percent.

Through last week, investors had offered $3.18 for every dollar of notes and bonds auctioned this year, the most since the government began releasing the data in 1992.

Federal Debt

The total federal debt is almost $15.7 trillion, up from $10.6 trillion on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, according to the Treasury Department.

At an event this morning, Obama was joined by Small Business Administrator Karen Mills to highlight an administration proposal that would offer a 10 percent income tax credit for small business firms that create new jobs or increase wages in 2012. It also would extend 100 percent expensing in 2012.

The five-point package also includes offering companies a tax credit for moving their manufacturing back to the U.S., making it easier for homeowners to refinance and renewing tax credits for clean energy development and creating a Veterans Job Corps to help post-Sept. 11 veterans find work as police officers and firefighters.