The shutdown goes on, Tea Party demands about Obamacare are gone as is last week’s House deal. From the FT:
Negotiations between the White House and Republicans in the House of Representatives over the budget have broken down, shifting the focus to the Senate ahead of next week’s deadline to lift the country’s debt limit.
John Boehner, the Republican House Speaker, told members in a meeting on Saturday morning on Capitol Hill that talks had stalled after the White House rejected his initial offer for a six-week hike in the debt ceiling and new budget talks to reopen the government.
…Senior Republicans had been shaken by an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showing the lowest ratings for the party since the survey started in 1989, adding urgency to their efforts to reach a settlement.
Talks foundered, however, after the White House opposed a six-week extension of the debt ceiling, and linking that issue to the budget negotiations that lie behind the partial government shutdown.
Twelve days into a partial government shutdown, and days before the country hits its statutory borrowing limit, Republican demands that the president cut funding for, or delay his signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare, have been pushed off centre stage.
But with many Tea Party-backed Republicans in the House insisting on maintaining a hardline, on both the budget and Obamacare, Mr Boehner has stepped back to allow Senate talks to proceed.
…The outlines of a deal are not clear, and any agreement will also need the support of the White House and Democrats in the House, whose votes will be needed to pass it.
Action has moved to the Senate. From the WSJ:
“The real conversation that matters now is the one that’s taking place between McConnell and Reid,” said Sen. Bob Corker(R., Tenn.).
The two Senate leaders met around 9 a.m. on Saturday morning for about 45 minutes, along with two other lawmakers, at Mr. McConnell’s request. Afterward, Mr. Reid told reporters that the talks “should be seen as very positive,” but that the two sides still had a long way to go.
…Senate leaders gave no expected deadline to reach a deal, but they made clear they were aware that the uncertainty shrouding the debt ceiling could spook investors in the market, which reopens Monday.
…Any deal that the Senate settles on is sure to present a quandary to conservative House Republicans: It is likely to fall short of the policy demands they have been seeking, but will likely arrive shortly before Oct. 17, leaving little time for further negotiations.
…House Republicans learned on Saturday that Mr. Obama had rejected their proposal for ending the stalemate. They painted a far more negative picture of the state of their talks with the White House than had emerged on Friday, when the White House had said Mr. Obama “had some concerns” about the plan but that the two sides would keep talking.
…”I want you to remember: This is not normal,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday, in which he blamed Republicans for the impasse. “Our government is closed for the first time in 17 years. A political party is risking default for the first time since the 1700s. This is not normal. That’s why we have to put a stop to it. Not only because it’s dangerous, but because it saps everyone’s faith in our extraordinary system of self-government.”
As polls swing dramatically away from Republicans (whocouldanode!) Obama has the upper hand and is hardening his positions. It is clear that the Republican Party will be blamed for whatever the outcome so Obama has every political incentive to push this as far as it will go. There’s a scheduled recess all this week for Congress so a resolution Monday is a fair assessment given the October 17 deadline for default but Obama could risk more and gain more. Never waste a good crisis! And that appears to be where we are this morning. Again from the FT:
…The Senate talks are also at an impasse in a dispute over a Democratic push to unwind automatic budget cuts agreed to after an earlier budget dispute, something Republicans are resisting.
…Time is an issue since any agreement reached in the Senate might take days to be approved and could be held up even longer if Republican senators used procedural tactics, such as the filibuster, to delay a vote.
The Republican-dominated House, which does not convene until Monday evening, would then have to approve any Senate compromise, a difficult vote with so many opposed to any Democratic plan.
