WASHINGTON — Hopes of a breakthrough in the deadlock over increasing the nation’s debt had to wait Thursday night, when President Obama and House Republicans failed to reach a deal after a 90-minute meeting.
Both sides, however, agreed to keep talking.
The mood in DC had been upbeat most of the day after Republican House Speaker John Boehner offered a plan for hike the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling for six more weeks.
The markets swooned at the ray of hope that the US could avert a potentially catastrophic default before the Oct. 17 deadline, with the Dow jumping over 300 points in its biggest single-day gain of the year.
But the two sides couldn’t clinch a deal during a late-afternoon meeting.
“The president, along with the vice president, Treasury Secretary [Jack] Lew, [Chief of Staff] Denis McDonough and [Deputy Chief of Staff] Rob Nabors listened to the Republicans present their proposal,” the White House said in a statement.
“After a discussion about potential paths forward, no specific determination was made.”
Still, there were signs of progress.
“The president didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. We’re continuing to negotiate this evening,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) told reporters Republicans and the White House were trying to find out if there was a way to negotiate on a resolution to “stop the shutdown” as part of the talks.
The temporary debt hike would extend the US government’s borrowing authority to just before Thanksgiving — and provide a respite from the political brinkmanship that has rattled financial markets for weeks.
The deal would do nothing to reopen the government on the 10th day of a shutdown that has shuttered federal agencies and furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers.
The White House had earlier said the president “would likely sign” a short-term extension of the debt cap and didn’t rule out his doing so even if the government remained closed.
Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) summed up the House GOP offer as “taking the pressure off so that you don’t feel like there’s extortion” in exchange for Obama’s agreement “to sit down and negotiate.”