On one side of Pennsylvania Avenue this morning, President Obama will be talking about a "balanced approach" to cutting the federal debt that includes new government revenues as well as program cuts.

Down the street, the Senate's top Republican -- Mitch McConnell of Kentucky -- will be proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, and bashing Democrats over raising taxes.

They'll do so at exactly the same time.

Obama and McConnell both have scheduled news conferences at 11:30 a.m., the latest moves in the budget debate over increasing the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling while cutting federal spending.

McConnell and other Republicans object to what they call Democratic insistence on tax increases as part of any budget deal.

"While the president will be calling for tax hikes on job creators, Republicans will be at the Capitol calling on Congress to balance its budget," said Don Stewart, a McConnell spokesman.

Obama and the Democrats say they are promoting a balanced approach to debt reduction. Instead of tax hikes, they talk in terms of closing tax loopholes and ending subsidies for wealthy special interests.

They also note that, without an increase in the debt ceiling, the government risks a default that could well trigger another recession.

"Republicans should start accepting the hard truths we face and work with us to do the right thing for the middle class instead of protecting millionaires and big corporations at all costs," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

To be continued -- at 11:30.