WASHINGTON - US lawmakers were scrambling on Thursday to avert a disastrous early August debt default, after President Barack Obama met separately with his top Democratic allies and Republican foes to hammer out a compromise.

But the negotiations wrapped up on Wednesday without news of a breakthrough.

With an Aug 2 deadline looming, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would accept a short-term deal to raise the debt ceiling but only to buy time as part of a broader arrangement to slash the ballooning US deficit.