◼ House Republican leaders Thursday told their rank and file that they plan to offer President Obama a plan to temporarily raise the nation's $16.7 trillion debt ceiling to buy Congress and the White House time to negotiate a longer-term deal on major spending reforms. - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner
"It's time for these negotiations and conversations to begin," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said after meeting privately with GOP members on the 10th day of a government shutdown.
The deal would increase the debt ceiling for six weeks, averting a potential financial crisis once the government hits the limit on Oct. 17. But the measure would not reopen the government, something Obama insists must be part of any deal. Republicans will offer the proposal to Obama in a Thursday afternoon meeting at the White House.
...The leadership may still face its stiffest resistance from conservative House members who were pushing to defund Obamacare as party of any budget deal to end the government shutdown, which entered its second week.
