President Obama on Thursday rebuffed House Republicans’ offer of a six-week quick fix to the country’s debt limit woes because it would not end the government shutdown. Both parties, however, saw the offer as a softening in the Republican brinksmanship and an indication of a “fiscal truce,” the New York Times reports.
Obama hosted twenty Republican leaders, including Speaker John Boehner, for an hour-and-a-half long meeting at the White House this afternoon. Boehner brought with him an offer to authorize the Treasury Department to borrow enough money to cover the country’s existing financial obligations through November 22 in return for a commitment from the White House to negotiate long-term deficit reduction and a tax overhaul, according to the Times. The proposal could still come up for a vote as early as Friday, but Democrats are skeptical that Boehner and the GOP House leadership could get enough votes to pass it.
