GOP offers Obama short-term plan to raise debt ceiling

UPDATE: Republican leaders left the White House Thursday evening without reaching a deal. “After a discussion about potential paths forward, no specific determination was made,” the White House said in a statement.

Facing Day 10 of the government shutdown and pressure from business leaders, House Republican leaders are poised to offer President Barack Obama a plan that calls for a short-term hike in the nation's debt limit without immediately reopening the government. It does not include any of their original demands to delay or defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

When congressional leaders and the president meet at the White House late Thursday afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his troops will present a plan that would temporarily increase the nation's debt ceiling—which is scheduled to hit its limit Oct. 17—but would not reopen the government, which has been shuttered since Oct. 1.

In return, House Republicans want an agreement from the White House to “sit down and discuss with us a way forward to reopen the government and to start to deal with America's pressing problems,” Boehner said Thursday.

House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) recently said such negotiations should include discussion of cutting Medicare and other entitlement programs, while Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said they should include repealing the Affordable Care Act's excise tax on medical devices, which helps fund the coverage expansion.

Boehner also said the House GOP offer comes with an agreement from House GOP leaders to hammer out budget differences with Senate leaders through a conference committee. Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman, said in an e-mail that the House's plan does not include an amount for the debt-ceiling increase, but that it would raise the nation's debt ceiling until around Nov. 20.

“A plan to reopen the government and deal with Obamacare will be part of the negotiations,” Buck said in his e-mail.

Meanwhile, after the president met with members of the Senate Democratic caucus on Thursday, the White House issued a statement that said Senate leaders are preparing a bill that would raise the debt limit for a year, which the administration said is enough time to promote certainty for the nation's businesses and economy. The Senate could vote on that bill as early as this weekend. The administration also reiterated the president's earlier messages that he will negotiate with lawmakers after the House

“The President and the Congressional Democrats share the principle that we cannot allow a faction of the House Republicans to demand a ransom from the American people in exchange for Congress doing its job, and the President reaffirmed that we will not allow them to hold the economy hostage to an extreme political agenda that includes demands like defunding Obamacare or reinstating tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires that the majority of Americans reject,” the White House statement said. “The President and the Senate Democrats will continue to pursue reasonable discussions about our budget challenges after these manufactured crises end, and the President looks forward to continuing to work with them to pursue policies that grow our economy, create jobs and strengthen the middle class.”

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