Damage Control: WH Vows No Pricey Obama Birthday Bash Until Debt Crisis Resolved

As we brought you earlier today on the blog, plans for a $35,800-per-couple blowout celebration are in the works to mark President Barack Obama's 50th birthday next month. But now after the word got out about the extravagant bash, the White House has done some backpedaling.

The fundraiser party, planned for Aug. 3 at the Aragon Ballroom in Uptown Chicago, is just one day after the impending deadline to raise the debt ceiling, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Obama's actual birthday is Aug. 4.

Tickets for the event range from $50 a person to more than $35,000 for couples, which includes dinner with the president and VIP seating at a birthday concert, where Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson is rumored to perform.

All proceeds will go to support Obama's 2012 reelection fund.

But the White House is pushing back against reports of the party. With deficit talks set to resume later this afternoon, ABC reports senior officials said the celebration would only move forward if negotiations and the debt ceiling deadline have been resolved.

Still, that hasn't stopped aides from using the extravagant party as a fundraising incentive.

"Campaign aides are pitching free tickets to the bash as part of a sweepstakes for grassroots supporters," ABC says.