House Republicans Enter Talks With Obama on Debt-Limit Deal

President Obama and House Republican leaders were moving toward an agreement to extend the nation’s borrowing authority as they remained at odds over terms for ending the partial government shutdown.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio yesterday said he would offer as soon as today a measure to postpone a potential U.S. default to Nov. 22 from Oct. 17. The step back from the brink triggered the biggest rise in U.S. stocks in nine months.

House Republican leaders met with Obama for 90 minutes at the White House late yesterday. The developments were the first sign that the president and congressional Republicans could resolve the fiscal impasse without negative economic consequences from a default as the halt in government operations moved into its 11th day.

Any prospective deal faces questions, including whether Boehner can make a deal with Obama without losing the support of his members who are backed by the limited-government Tea Party. They’ve sought to use the debt ceiling and government shutdown to force curbs on Obamacare and federal spending.

Obama didn’t accept or reject House Republicans’ plan for a short-term increase in the debt limit. The two sides planned further talksamong their staff members last night to address the president’s insistence that Republicans agree to fund the government before starting broader fiscal talks.

“No specific determination was made,” the White House said in a statement. The two sides talked about “potential paths forward.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS

Senate Republicans, who are scheduled to meet with Obama at 11:15 a.m. today at the White House, are developing alternative debt-ceiling proposals.

One plan, being developed by Susan Collins of Maine, would pair provisions to raise the debt ceiling and end the shutdown with a repeal of a medical-device tax included in the 2010 heath care law.

Democrats, even those who support repealing the medical device tax, have been adamant that they will refuse to do so as part of an agreement to end the shutdown or raise the debt ceiling.

Democratic aides have said they are open to allowing Republicans to offer amendments to their debt proposal, particularly if that helps gain early support to advance the bill. Such amendments almost certainly would be rejected.

‘PATH FORWARD’

Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, called yesterday’s meeting with Obama “constructive” and that, withtalks continuing, “hopefully we will have a clearer way, path forward.”

Obama began the meeting by acknowledging that Republican leaders’ offer to extend the debt limit was a positive step while urging them to stop the shutdown, according to a Democratic official who asked not to be identified discussing the closed-door deliberations.

The Republican lawmakers responded by saying that they needed concessions, the official said. Obama said he would consider what they want so long as they weren’t making demands as a condition for a spending bill that would allow federal agencies to resume operations.

Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said at a Bloomberg breakfast today that lawmakers were using the debt ceiling for leverage because “how else can you get those people -- the president, Democrats in the Senate and the House -- to come to the table and start working with you in good faith to solve a long-term problem?”

‘INSIST UPON’

Obama “would like the shutdown stopped,” Representative Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said after the White House session. “We are trying to find out what it is he would insist upon” in a spending measure to open the government.

The meeting was “very positive” and “a lot of air was cleared,” another participant, Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said today on MSNBC. “At the end of the day, we’re going to get this worked out.”

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors were taking the lead in last night’s talks with House Republican aides, the Democratic official said.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.1% today after the gauge yesterday rose the most since Jan. 2.

TREASURY BILLS

Rates on Treasury bills scheduled to mature on Oct. 17 dropped yesterday for the first time in six days. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 2.68%, after touching 2.72%, the highest level since Sept. 23.

The financial markets, which have weathered fiscal brinkmanship at least four times since Republicans gained the House majority in January 2011, so far have taken Washington’s dysfunction in stride. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew warned in testimony to lawmakers yesterday that “uncertainty” over the debt limit is starting to stress financial markets.

Under Boehner’s plan, the Treasury Department wouldn’t be able to use so-called extraordinary measures to further extend borrowing authority, creating a hard deadline, said Representative Tom Reed, a New York Republican.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said ending the extraordinary measures “isn’t very smart” because it would limitTreasury’s flexibility.

If the U.S. fails to raise the debt limit by Oct. 17, the government will have $30 billion plus incoming revenue to pay its bills. It would start missing scheduled payments, including benefits, salaries and interest, between Oct. 22 and Oct. 31, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

PRESSING AHEAD

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are pressing ahead with their preferred plan, which would push the next debt-limit fight into 2015 and include no policy conditions. A test vote could occur tomorrow.

Democrats, who control 54 seats in the 100-member Senate, would need the support of at least six Republicans on procedural votes to pass their bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s proposal would suspend the debt ceiling through Dec. 31, 2014. Because the Treasury Department can use extraordinary measures to stave off default, another increase wouldn’t be needed until sometime in 2015. The previous debt-limit suspension expired on May 18 and the extraordinary measures are lasting five months.

“I hope the Republicans decide what they want and we’ll be happy to work with them in any way,” Reid, of Nevada, said at the White House after he and other Senate Democrats met with Obama for almost two hours yesterday. “We’ll just wait and see because they cannot decide what they want.”

BLAMING REPUBLICANS

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released yesterday found that 53% of those surveyed blamed Republicans for the fiscal impasse, compared with 31% who blame Obama.

The shutdown would pare 0.2 percentage point from U.S. economic growth if it lasts through this week and as much as 0.5 point if it continues another two weeks, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Republicans are debating what policy conditions they will insist upon. House Republicans are backing away from demanding major changes to the 2010 health-care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the aide said.

The government shutdown started Oct. 1 after Republicans insisted that further funding for many programs be tied to a one-year delay in the health-insurance mandate.

Obama and Senate Democrats refused, and the resulting furloughs and agency shutdowns have slowed mortgage closings, small-business loans and nutrition assistance to poor mothers. Some programs, such as Social Security, continue uninterrupted.

Read more: Debt Ceiling Crisis: What Advisors Should Do

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