Factbox: Sticking points in debt-limit talks

(Reuters) - Lawmakers are struggling to find a way to lift the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit three days before a deadline to avert a ruinous default.

Underneath the heated rhetoric and parliamentary maneuvering, Republicans and Democrats have relatively few policy differences.

Following is a summary of where the two sides agree, based on their latest proposals, and where sticking points remain.

AGREEMENT

* Any debt-ceiling hike must be paired with spending cuts to keep the national debt from growing out of control.

* Both the plan drafted by House Speaker John Boehner and the plan offered by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid would trim annual discretionary spending, which funds everything from river dredging to national defense, by about $750 billion over 10 years.

* Both plans envision those spending cuts being phased in gradually, to avoid harming the shaky economy. The Boehner plan would cut spending by only $6 billion in the fiscal year that starts October 1; the Reid plan calls for a cut of $4 billion from the current level of $1.049 trillion.

* Both plans call for a special committee, made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate, to find further savings. These could come from benefit programs and an overhaul of the tax code.

* The committee's recommended cuts would get a vote in both the House and the Senate free of the usual procedural hurdles.

DISAGREEMENT

* Democrats want to ensure that the discretionary spending cuts would affect the Pentagon and other security programs, not just domestic programs. Republicans do not like this idea.

* The two sides remain divided about how to ensure that Congress will actually sign off on further spending cuts.

* Republicans have proposed a short-term debt limit increase of about $900 billion that would cover the country's borrowing needs until the end of 2011 or early 2012, enough time for the special committee to complete its work. At that point, Congress would not be able to raise the debt ceiling again unless it signs off on the committee's recommendations.

* Democrats say that would create more economic uncertainty and put the country through another wrenching debt-limit debate. They want the bill to include a debt-ceiling hike of $2.4 trillion, enough to last past the 2012 elections. Reid's latest plan would allow President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling in stages and allow Republicans to register their disapproval.

* Reid's plan does not reflect this, but the White House has proposed that various politically unpalatable policies kick in if Congress balks at further budget savings.

* In talks with Boehner nearly two weeks ago, the White House proposed automatic income-tax increases on the wealthy and across-the-board cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid health programs to spur action.

* Republicans said that the across-the-board health care cuts would hurt them politically as well. Instead, they proposed that two central elements of Obama's healthcare law -- the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance and an independent Medicare oversight board -- would be scuttled.

* Talks between Boehner and Obama broke down a week ago over this issue and it is sure to loom large in this weekend's discussions.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan)