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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leading Republicans on Friday stated an increase in the jobless rate underscored the need for President Barack Obama to get personally involved in talks to cut government spending to assist stimulate economic growth.

“One look at the jobs report should show the White House it’s time to get severe about cutting spending and dealing with our ailing economy,” House Speaker John Boehner said following information showed jobs growth slowed sharply in May and the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent.

Boehner said Obama necessary to take a a lot more active role in deficit-reduction talks if the president hopes for agreement between Republicans and Democrats by the end of June.

The White Home may possibly have gotten that message. Obama invited Boehner for a round of golf on June 18, an administration official said.

Tension between the two political sides led Moody’s credit ratings agency to warn on Thursday that it could think about cutting the United States’ top-notch credit rating if there was not progress by mid-July on a deal to decrease the deficit and raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt limit.

Obama is attempting to win congressional approval to raise the borrowing authority just before an August two deadline. But comments by Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Friday did not augur well for any quick deal as both sides blamed every other for the sagging economy.

Both sides have been careful, even so, to try to keep their heated rhetoric from seeping into bipartisan talks led by Vice President Joe Biden, which are observed by numerous as the greatest hope for a deficit-reduction deal. Opinion polls show Americans are deeply worried about the size of the U.S. deficit, which is expected to reach $1.4 trillion this year.

“I think there’s a lot of progress that’s been made in the Biden talks,” Boehner stated.

WANTED: HANDS-ON ACTION BY OBAMA

“He (Obama) could take a much more active role. He’s had this hands-off approach for the last a number of months even though this conversation has raged on,” Boehner stated, sharpening his criticism of the president’s handling of the problem.

“If we’re going to meet the president’s goal of trying to get this done by the end of June, then it’s time for him to step up and take a far more active role.”

The White Home has said Obama, who directed Biden to lead the talks, has been closely monitoring the negotiations.

An official stated on Friday that the White House would delay the release of its mid-session budget evaluation — a report with updated budget and economic forecasts — until following the legal deadline of July 16, partly simply because of the ongoing talks and the late deal on a fiscal 2011 budget earlier this year.

“These delays have little practical impact,” the official stated, adding that the report would come out “later in the summer.” [ID:nN03175514]

Republicans say publicly and Democrats privately that the Biden talks are not moving fast enough and that negotiators need to meet a lot more often to resolve thorny issues in the way of a deficit deal to calm financial markets.

Home Majority Leader Eric Cantor stated the Biden talks had produced movement toward “coalescing around trillions of dollars in cuts.”

But Cantor, 1 of two Republicans taking part in the talks, made clear Republicans would stand firm on their positions and want tax increases off the table as a deficit-reduction choice.

The Biden talks have been slow-going. Although Republicans refuse to think about tax hikes, Democrats oppose Republican proposals to scale back the government-run Medicare healthcare program for future retirees.

The next round of talks, which contain a group of six members of the Home and Senate, will resume on June 9.

Obama met with about 200 House Republicans at the White Home earlier this week.

In a 75-minute meeting described by some as frank with some tense moments, Obama warned Republicans of “dire” consequences if they do not raise the debt limit before the government runs out of funds. But Republicans, and several Democrats, insist that considerable spending cuts need to accompany any deal on raising the debt limit.

(Extra reporting by Jeff Mason, Thomas Ferraro and Donna Smith Editing by Ross Colvin and David Lawder)