So much for the urgency of the debt ceiling increase

Apparently fixing the debt limit problem quickly isn't quite as crucial as the Obama administration claimed.

When the House Republicans stop by the White House to talk about the deficit with President Obama on Wednesday, a central figure won’t be there: Joe Biden.

The vice president, who has been leading negotiations on raising the debt limit with the GOP, is in Italy with his wife to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification, on Thursday. Instead of domestic matters, Biden will be talking foreign affairs with Italy’s president and its prime minister, and the presidents of Russia and Georgia, according to the White House. . . .