President, GOP Discuss Temporary Fix
Friday, October 11, 2013 at 5:36AM President Barack Obama and House Republicans began discussions Thursday on a GOP proposal to extend the nation's borrowing authority for six weeks, marking a new opening in the budget stalemate that risks a U.S. debt crisis.
At a White House meeting of the president and top House Republicans, Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) offered the proposal to extend U.S. borrowing authority in exchange for an agreement from Mr. Obama to negotiate on a broad range of budget issues.
The meeting ended inconclusively. But after weeks of stalemate and sniping, as well as a partial government shutdown that entered its 10th day Thursday, the inauguration of talks was a breakthrough that signaled a new openness on both sides.
Mr. Obama "didn't say yes, he didn't say no" to the GOP plan, said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) after the meeting with Mr. Obama. "We put an offer on the table. We had a long, frank conversation about it, and we agreed to continue talking and to continue negotiation. Just the glimpse of a path to avoiding an unprecedented U.S. default sent stocks soaring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 323.09 points, or 2.2%, to 15126.07. Stocks also jumped higher in Asia Friday morning.
A new poll shows that Republicans are bearing the brunt of public outrage over the budget impasse. The Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found 53% of Americans blamed the GOP for the shutdown, compared with 31% who blamed Mr. Obama. The Republican Party's image has slumped to its lowest level in Journal/NBC polling, which dates to 1989, with more than twice as many people holding a negative image of the GOP as a positive one.
Until now, Mr. Obama had refused to negotiate until the government was reopened and the debt ceiling raised. Republicans, in turn, said those steps must be paired with a deficit-reduction plan and changes to the 2010 health care law that they knew Mr. Obama wouldn't accept.
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