Updated Oct. 14, 2013 4:22 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON—Top Senate leaders on Monday said they were within striking distance of a deal to sidestep a looming debt crisis and reopen the federal government two weeks after a partisan deadlock forced it to close.
Fourteen days after a partial government shutdown began, senators signaled a bipartisan resolution could come as soon as Monday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.), shown Monday leaving the office of Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said, "I'm very optimistic we will reach an agreement." Associated Press
"I'm very optimistic we will reach an agreement that's reasonable in nature this week to reopen the government, pay the nation's bills and begin long-term negotiations to put our country on sound fiscal footing," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said on the Senate floor.
Mr. Reid earlier told reporters he hoped a deal could come before a meeting with top congressional leaders and President Barack Obama at the White House. The meeting had been scheduled for 3 p.m. but was later postponed "to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government," the White House said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) quickly seconded Mr. Reid's optimism, saying he expected to "get a result that will be acceptable to both sides."
Mr. McConnell said Monday he expected to "get a result that will be acceptable to both sides." Associated Press
The details of the nascent agreement had yet to be publicly released Monday afternoon, but the leading proposal under discussion between the two leaders would reopen the government at current spending levels of $986 billion annually until Jan. 15 and extend the federal borrowing limit until early February, according to aides familiar with the talks. Lawmakers would also begin longer-term talks on the budget, with the task of reaching an agreement by mid-December.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), sidelined after Mr. Obama rejected an offer made by House Republicans late last week, checked in on the Senate talks on Monday. "The speaker went to see Sen. McConnell and get an update on the negotiations," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner.
Less clear is whether the deal would include even any minor changes to the president's health-care law, a major goal of House Republicans who must also vote on any eventual deal. Republicans have steadily scaled back their demand to gut the law as a condition of extending government funding in the face of unyielding Democratic resistance. In a search for concessions on the health law, Senate Democrats are resisting a GOP push to repeal or delay the law's tax on medical devices, but may agree to a proposal that would verify the income of people receiving government subsidies to help pay for health-insurance premiums.
The end of the short-term spending bill would coincide with the mid-January start of the next round of the across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester. Those reductions would bring spending down to an annual level of $967 billion.
"January 15 is a motivating moment," said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who cautioned he was not saying any agreement connected to that date had been reached.
Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters Monday while visiting a food and family services charity in Washington, said the White House meeting will be a chance to hear whether the components of an agreement are coming together in the Senate. "There has been some progress on the Senate side," he said. "We'll see this afternoon whether this progress is real."
The president warned that if a deal isn't reached before Thursday, when the Treasury says it will exhaust its ability to pay all its bills, the economic impact of the partial government shutdown will be "greatly magnified."
"If we don't start making some real progress both in the House and Senate ... we stand a good chance of defaulting, and defaulting would have a potentially devastating effect on our economy," Mr. Obama said.
Any agreement reached in the Senate will have to secure support from both the White House and the GOP-controlled House. Negotiations between House GOP lawmakers and Mr. Obama hit an impasse late last week, shifting the locus of deal-making back to the Senate. The latest round of talks must compete with a dwindling window of time and mounting anxiety in the market over the protracted fiscal feud.
—Jared A. Favole contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at [email protected] and Janet Hook at [email protected]
WASHINGTON—Top Senate leaders on Monday said they were within striking distance of a deal to sidestep a looming debt crisis and reopen the federal government two weeks after a partisan deadlock forced it to close.
Fourteen days after a partial government shutdown began, senators signaled a bipartisan resolution could come as soon as Monday afternoon.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D., Nev.), shown Monday leaving the office of Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said, "I'm very optimistic we will reach an agreement." Associated Press
"I'm very optimistic we will reach an agreement that's reasonable in nature this week to reopen the government, pay the nation's bills and begin long-term negotiations to put our country on sound fiscal footing," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said on the Senate floor.
Mr. Reid earlier told reporters he hoped a deal could come before a meeting with top congressional leaders and President Barack Obama at the White House. The meeting had been scheduled for 3 p.m. but was later postponed "to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress towards a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government," the White House said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) quickly seconded Mr. Reid's optimism, saying he expected to "get a result that will be acceptable to both sides."
Mr. McConnell said Monday he expected to "get a result that will be acceptable to both sides." Associated Press
The details of the nascent agreement had yet to be publicly released Monday afternoon, but the leading proposal under discussion between the two leaders would reopen the government at current spending levels of $986 billion annually until Jan. 15 and extend the federal borrowing limit until early February, according to aides familiar with the talks. Lawmakers would also begin longer-term talks on the budget, with the task of reaching an agreement by mid-December.
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), sidelined after Mr. Obama rejected an offer made by House Republicans late last week, checked in on the Senate talks on Monday. "The speaker went to see Sen. McConnell and get an update on the negotiations," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner.
Less clear is whether the deal would include even any minor changes to the president's health-care law, a major goal of House Republicans who must also vote on any eventual deal. Republicans have steadily scaled back their demand to gut the law as a condition of extending government funding in the face of unyielding Democratic resistance. In a search for concessions on the health law, Senate Democrats are resisting a GOP push to repeal or delay the law's tax on medical devices, but may agree to a proposal that would verify the income of people receiving government subsidies to help pay for health-insurance premiums.
The end of the short-term spending bill would coincide with the mid-January start of the next round of the across-the-board spending cuts, known as the sequester. Those reductions would bring spending down to an annual level of $967 billion.
"January 15 is a motivating moment," said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who cautioned he was not saying any agreement connected to that date had been reached.
Mr. Obama, speaking to reporters Monday while visiting a food and family services charity in Washington, said the White House meeting will be a chance to hear whether the components of an agreement are coming together in the Senate. "There has been some progress on the Senate side," he said. "We'll see this afternoon whether this progress is real."
The president warned that if a deal isn't reached before Thursday, when the Treasury says it will exhaust its ability to pay all its bills, the economic impact of the partial government shutdown will be "greatly magnified."
"If we don't start making some real progress both in the House and Senate ... we stand a good chance of defaulting, and defaulting would have a potentially devastating effect on our economy," Mr. Obama said.
Any agreement reached in the Senate will have to secure support from both the White House and the GOP-controlled House. Negotiations between House GOP lawmakers and Mr. Obama hit an impasse late last week, shifting the locus of deal-making back to the Senate. The latest round of talks must compete with a dwindling window of time and mounting anxiety in the market over the protracted fiscal feud.
—Jared A. Favole contributed to this article.
Write to Kristina Peterson at [email protected] and Janet Hook at [email protected]