House GOP: failed to gut Obamacare, now want to focus on programs Democrats hold dear.

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.