WASHINGTON–House Republicans failed to gut Obamacare and now want to focus on programs Democrats hold dear. On Thursday–Day Ten of the partial federal government shutdown- House GOP leaders offered to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks–in exchange for broader budget talks. My column on Democratic concerns is HERE.
The White House gave a chilly reception to the bid to use the looming Oct. 17 debt ceiling to force President Barack Obama to negotiate.
With Obamacare off the table for now, a new player has emerged, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the House Budget Committee chairman — and Mitt Romney’s 2012 running mate — who has stayed out of the fray these past weeks.
All parties — House and Senate Republicans and Democrats, and Obama — seem headed toward an agreement for a short-term debt-ceiling measure in order to calm nervous financial markets around the world.
WORTH NOTING Even before the shutdown, lawmakers were only aiming to pass a stopgap measure fund the federal government until mid-November or mid-December.
