Obama to stress need to raise debt limit 'without drama'

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - President Barack Obama will renew his case for tax hikes on wealthy Americans to avert a year-end fiscal crunch and call for a smooth increase in the nation's borrowing limit in a speech to a business group on Wednesday, a White House official said.

The president is embarked on an aggressive campaign to pressure congressional Republicans to compromise on steps to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. He will argue to corporate executives that it would hurt the nation's economy to have another protracted political fight over raising the debt limit, the official said.

"The President will highlight why it would hurt our economy and our nation's businesses if we do not find a solution to avoid another debt ceiling crisis, and will ask the business leaders for their help in supporting an approach that resolves the debt limit without drama or delay," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was the reluctance of congressional Republicans to agree to such an increase in 2011 without deep spending cuts that brought the nation to the brink of default. The result was a historic lowering of the US credit rating and a setback to the recovery from a recession that ended in 2009.