US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday it was unthinkable for the United States not to meet its debt obligations and he is confident a debt deal will get done.

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" program, Geithner said it was critical that Congress approve a new debt ceiling that gets the country into 2013, past the November 2012 presidential election.   

"The most important thing is that we remove this threat of default from the country for the next 18 months," Geithner said. "What the leaders know is that they need to agree on something together that will pass the House (of Representatives), pass the Senate that the president can accept."    

Geithner said President Barack Obama was communicating with all congressional leaders throughout the day on Saturday as lawmakers and the White House tried to find a way to lift the $14.3 trillion limit on US borrowing by an August 2 deadline.   

He also said that a two-tiered proposal by US House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, to lift the debt ceiling through the end of 2011 and then do it again later does not have the votes to pass Congress and it was not acceptable to the White House.

"What we cannot do -- because it would be irresponsible -- is to leave the threat of default hanging over the American economy for a longer period of time," Geithner said.   

The treasury secretary also said that the US economy slowed "a lot" in the first half of 2011 and that growth should be better in the second half. He also said the jobless rate was unacceptably high. - Reuters