The House's latest plan to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown won't pass the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidUFOs were not the only thing that the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program was studying Warren to propose 'wealth tax' on those with more than M in assets Overnight Health Care: Trump calls for crackdown on surprise medical bills | Trump officials give religious exemption to foster care program | Uninsured rate at highest level since 2014 | Juul hires former Harry Reid chief of staff MORE (D-Nev.) said on Tuesday. [WATCH VIDEO] 
 
 “Introduction of this measure by House Republican leadership is unproductive and a waste of time,” Reid said. “the House legislation cannot and will not pass the Senate.” 
 
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 Senate leaders are working on a deal that would end the shutdown, fund the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt ceiling until February. 
 
 House Republicans met Tuesday morning to discuss preempting the Senate by passing their own plan to raise the debt ceiling and end the shutdown. 
 
 The House bill would delay Obamacare's medical device tax and scrap healthcare subsidies for members of Congress and top Cabinet officials, among other provisions. Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerMomentum for earmarks grows with Dem majority Cannabis company says CBS refused to run its Super Bowl ad advocating for medical marijuana Breaking the impasse on shutdown, border security MORE (R-Ohio) said no firm decisions about the plan have been made. 
 
 
 
 Reid said the bill is a non-starter even if Boehner John Andrew BoehnerMomentum for earmarks grows with Dem majority Cannabis company says CBS refused to run its Super Bowl ad advocating for medical marijuana Breaking the impasse on shutdown, border security MORE finds the votes he needs to pass it. 
 
 
 
 “It’s a plan to advance an extreme piece of legislation and its nothing but a blatant attack on bipartisanship. ... We felt blindsided by the news from the House." 
 
 "Everyone needs to know that the measure under discussion in the House is no part of what we have negotiated here in the Senate." 
 
 Reid has criticized linking the medical device tax to the budget plan as "stupid" idea. 
 
 A spokesman for Boehner questioned why Reid is unwilling to accept a delay of the tax, given the broad support among Senate Democrats for repealing it. 
 
 
 
 "Is Senator Reid so blinded by partisanship that he is willing to risk default on our debt to protect a 'pacemaker tax' that 34 Senate Democrats are on the record opposing, and he himself called 'stupid'?" Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said. 
 
 
 
 Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainCriticism of Biden bipartisanship exactly what’s wrong with U.S. politics White House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 Kamala Harris faces Democrats’ Rocky Mountain divide MORE criticized Democrats for their swift dismissal of the House legislation. 
 
 
 
 “I don’t understand that visceral reaction in a most negative fashion,” McCain said from the Senate floor. 
 
 
 
 McCain suggested that the House and Senate could both pass debt-ceiling bills and then go to conference to work out their differences. 
 
 
 
 “I believe it’s a good faith effort from the Speaker of the House,” McCain said. “Let’s stop the condemnation. Let’s consider the Republican House proposal as a serious proposal.” 
 
 — This story was last updated at 12:23 p.m. ||||| President Barack Obama and congressional leaders appeared no closer to ending a two-day-old government shutdown after meeting for more than an hour Wednesday night. 
 
 Instead, they resumed the same posture they held before the conference: No one is backing down. 
 
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 reset Reid, Pelosi remarks after meeting Protesters interrupt GOP presser 
 
 “The president made clear to the Leaders that he is not going to negotiate over the need for Congress to act to reopen the government or to raise the debt limit to pay the bills Congress has already incurred,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. “The president reinforced his view that the House should put the clean government funding bill that has been passed by the Senate up for a vote — a bill that would pass a majority of the House with bipartisan support.” 
 
 “The president is glad that the leaders were able to engage in this useful discussion this evening,” Carney added. 
 
 (PHOTOS: D.C. closes up shop) 
 
 “They will not negotiate,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said. “We had a nice conversation, a polite conversation, but at some point we’ve got to allow the process that our founders gave us to work out.” 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also didn’t budge. 
 
 Reid repeated what the president has long maintained, that Democrats won’t barter over Republican-desired changes to Obamacare with the twin swords of the shutdown and a possible default on the nation’s credit hanging over their heads. 
 
 “We are locked in tight on Obamacare,” Reid said to reporters gathered in the driveway outside the West Wing. 
 
 (POLITICO's full government shutdown coverage) 
 
 So, the federal government will remain closed on Thursday as the nation’s leaders refuse to deal with one another in real terms, preferring to deliver missives in the form of letters, press conferences and, now, even a small group pow-wow with no staff allowed in the room. 
 
 When asked, Reid declined to say why it took 80 minutes to conclude that no progress could be made. 
 
 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in a bind on the fiscal fight because he’s in a tough reelection race, released a statement calling the meeting “cordial but unproductive” and showing solidarity with Boehner’s position that the House and Senate should open a formal dialogue on resuming government funding. 
 
 “While I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with the president about this pressing issue, I was disappointed that he had little interest in negotiating a solution or in encouraging Senate Democrats to agree to the House request for a conference,” he said. 
 
 (POLITICO interview: Rep. Steve King predicts longer shutdown) 
 
 Before the meeting, Obama had told CNBC that he wasn’t in any mood to negotiate on what he considers to be core responsibilities of Congress and will talk about other issues once the government is open and the debt-limit increase is secured. 
 
 “Until we get that done,” Obama said, “we are not going to engage in a series of negotiations.” 
 
 Vice President Joe Biden, who has been a wheeler-dealer on past budget agreements, attended the meeting but did not address reporters afterward. 
 
 The Oval Office session came as the federal government remains shut down for the second day, with no end in sight. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers remained furloughed, and numerous government services have been temporarily ended as Obama and congressional Democrats face off against GOP leaders over the future of Obamacare. 
 
 (WATCH: Veterans storm World War II Memorial) 
 
 In between the interview and the congressional meeting, the president huddled with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who has said the date for the government defaulting on its debt — absent congressional action — is Oct. 17. 
 
 Increasingly, it appears that Washington’s leaders will have to come up with a budget plan that both reopens the government and raises the debt limit. 
 
 Republicans said beforehand that they welcomed the president’s invitation to the White House, as Obama, Reid and Pelosi have refused up to this point to accept anything other than a “clean” continuing resolution that funds the government. 
 
 “We’re pleased the president finally recognizes that his refusal to negotiate is indefensible,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement. “It’s unclear why we’d be having this meeting if it’s not meant to be a start to serious talks between the two parties.” 
 
 (WATCH: Protesters interrupt GOP presser on Capitol Hill) 
 
 If there was a small sliver of optimism, it was in Reid’s recounting of a portion of the meeting. Democrats offered to talk with Boehner about a range of other issues, including health care and farming laws, if he would first pass a “clean” extension of government funding. But, Reid said, Boehner replied “no,” insisting that the two chambers try to strike an agreement on the basic spending bill. Many Republicans now think it’s in their interest to cut a much bigger deal on spending, taxes, and the debt limit, and It is not inconceivable that a deal could be worked out that would involve a two- or three-step process in which the government would be opened, the debt cap raised and a long-term budget agreement triggered. 
 
 A breakaway group of more than a dozen House Republicans have indicated they would vote for a clean government spending bill — without language aimed at Obamacare — if it came to the floor. But they have so far not joined Democrats in procedural votes that would frustrate the GOP majority. 
 
 Reps. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) are working on a bipartisan continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the government for six months, which would include a repeal of the medical device tax, according to several lawmakers and aides. Dent was working the floor during the afternoon votes to try to get support from fellow Republicans. ||||| House and Senate leadership aides in both parties are increasingly convinced the federal government will close for the first time in more than 17 years on Tuesday morning. 
 
 There is still time to avoid such a climactic stalemate, the aides acknowledged. But unless there is a dramatic change in momentum, the likelihood that a partisan showdown over government funding and the future of Obamacare could lead to a shutdown has increased dramatically. 
 
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 reset Obama to Congress: 'Pay our bills on time' Turn the Table: Threat of a government shutdown 
 
 With a special closed-door meeting meeting of House Republicans set for noon Saturday, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his top lieutenants have not yet formulated their next play in their quest to keep the government open. It’s not even clear that the House will vote on Saturday. 
 
 (PHOTOS: How well do you know the news: Shutdown edition) 
 
 There have been repeated contacts between GOP and Democratic leaders and senior aides in recent days but no negotiations of any sort – or sign those are about to start – to resolve the standoff. Both sides feel they have made their position known to the other side, and are unwilling to make any concessions at this moment. 
 
 Senior House GOP sources say Republicans are likely to send the Senate an amended government-funding bill, but not a proposed one-week stop gap measure. Without that one-week funding bill - needed while Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the White House try to reach a compromise agreement - the federal government will beginning shutting down “non-essential” operations on Tuesday morning. 
 
 House Republicans are considering adding several provisions to the two-month, $986 billion continuing resolution passed by the Senate on Friday, and then sending the bill back to the the upper chamber. These options include: a one-year delay of the individual mandate called for in the 2010 Affordable Care Act; an end to government’s contribution to health care for lawmakers and Hill staffers; a repeal of the medical devices tax that helps fund Obamacare; or the elimination of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a controversial Obamacare provision designed to hold down Medicare costs. 
 
 (WATCH - Debt ceiling showdown: By the numbers) 
 
 Reid, though, has already warned Boehner that he will block any House GOP funding bill with Obamacare-related provisions. Reid would move to table any House bill that contains those additional provisions favored by House Republicans. Reid could do that with a simple majority vote on Monday, setting up a government shutdown the following morning. 
 
 ”We are going to accept nothing that relates to Obamacare. There’s a time and place for everything and this is not that time or place,” Reid said at a press conference following Friday’s vote. 
 
 President Barack Obama warned Republicans to “think about who you’re hurting” by letting the government shut down and said a closure would “throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction.” 
 
 Boehner, however, is under heavy pressure from his tea party and conservative House GOP colleagues to move to stop Obamacare’s implementation, whatever the political risk, including a shutdown. 
 
 (VIDEO: Major players to watch in shutdown showdown on Capitol Hill) 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is privately meeting with hard-line House conservatives to try to get them to hold out against any spending bill that does not defund or delay Obamacare — set to begin on Oct. 1, the same date government funding runs out. A House GOP debt ceiling package loaded with conservative goodies, including a provision delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate for a year, couldn’t even get enough support to make it to the floor, demonstrating how little sway Boehner holds over his rank-and-file members at this point. 
 
 Friday saw a new headache for the Ohio Republican - GOP lawmakers who are pushing back against others in the party who want to end the government contribution to the health insurance of lawmakers and staff. 
 
 Some of Boehner’s (R-Ohio) top allies marched into his Capitol office Friday afternoon to beg the speaker not to cut off health-insurance subsidies, which are deeply unpopular with the party base. Under heavy pressure from Capitol Hill — including Boehner — the Obama administration ruled in late July that lawmakers could continue receiving the employer contribution even as they enroll in new health insurance exchanges. 
 
 (PHOTOS: John Boehner’s life and career) 
 
 On Friday, Boehner told the group — GOP Reps. Tom Cole (Okla.), Duncan Hunter, Jr. (Calif.), Mike Turner (Ohio), Kay Granger (Texas) and Anders Crenshaw (Fla.) — to canvass the House Republican Conference to find out what might get support, according to sources familiar with the talks. 
 
 For the moment, it appears that those lawmakers may win that fight, despite repeated calls from Republicans like Rep. Mike McCaul (Texas) and Sen.David Vitter (La.) to get rid of the subsidy, similar to that other Americans get from their employers. 
 
 “For the last 25 years, members of Congress have been treated like every other federal employee,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a staunch opponent of cutting those subsidies who spoke up against the idea in a closed party meeting. “This idea of trying to vilify us now …, that is not the right thing to do.” 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Obama to Congress: ‘Pay our bills on time’) 
 
 Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), once a congressional staffer himself, said he was “a little concerned” with cutting staff health insurance subsidies. 
 
 Yet it’s obvious – and a huge understatement – to say the House GOP leadership is in a difficult predicament right now. Reid and Obama have refused to yield any ground on either the CR or the even more high stakes debt ceiling fight. The Treasury Department has warned the federal government will hit its $16.7 trillion borrowing limit on Oct. 17. 
 
 Obama is not interested in giving away pieces of his health care law just to fund government’s operations. And Boehner’s conservatives – who are taking their lead from Cruz – are not interested in giving up on their fight to defund Obamacare. There’s next to no trust in leadership’s strategies, and even less in Boehner himself. 
 
 (VIDEO: Mitt Romney thinks there's a better way to stop Obamacare) 
 
 The last few weeks have been a game of whack-a-mole for Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.): they’ve cycled through a number of strategies to both fund the government, and lift the debt limit. But each time they do, the party’s conservative wing shoots it down and demands a new plan. 
 
 GOP leadership will try once again to wrangle support for something – anything – on Saturday, when they meet in a closed session in the Capitol basement. House leadership said they might not even vote on a CR Saturday; that vote could slip until Sunday, Republicans lawmakers and aides said. ||||| “We’re trying to find a way through it,” said Representative Greg Walden of Oregon, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, emerging from Mr. Boehner’s office to announce that no votes would be held Tuesday night. 
 
 The House setback returned the focus to the Senate, where the leadership had suspended talks after the Senate Republican leadership opted to give the House a chance to produce an alternative to the Senate measure taking shape. 
 
 Under the emerging Senate deal, the government would be funded through Jan. 15 and the debt limit extended until Feb. 7. House and Senate negotiators would be required to reach accord on a detailed tax-and-spending blueprint for the next decade by Dec. 13. A proposal to delay the imposition of a tax on medical devices had been dropped from the deal, as had a complicated tax on self-insured unions and businesses participating in the health care exchanges. All that remained for Republicans was language tightening income verification for people seeking subsidies on the insurance exchanges, but that language was still being negotiated. 
 
 It remained unclear if the Senate plan could pass the House or even if Mr. Boehner would bring it forward for a vote. The hopes for a resolution by Thursday also appeared to rest with the senators who had begun the failed movement to tie any further government funding to the gutting of the Affordable Care Act: Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah. 
 
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 If Mr. Reid and Mr. McConnell reach a final accord, Senate leaders expect to use a parliamentary maneuver that will allow the majority leader to quickly move the deal to the Senate floor on Wednesday. With unanimous consent, a final vote would come the same day. But if Senate hard-liners object, the Senate would have to wait until Friday, then muster 60 votes to cut off debate. Further obstruction would mean the final vote would happen Saturday, when the bill would go back to the House, where it would pass only if it had overwhelming Democratic support since many Republicans would not vote for it. 
 
 Given the progress that had been made in the Senate, Congressional Democrats and officials at the White House criticized Mr. Boehner’s move on Tuesday as an attempt to sabotage the bipartisan Senate talks even as they seemed to be nearing an agreement. 
 
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 Initially, Mr. Boehner proposed a bill to reopen the government until Jan. 15, extend the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, delay a tax on medical devices two years and deny members of Congress, the president, the vice president and White House political appointees taxpayer subsidies to help buy insurance on President Obama’s health insurance exchanges. 
 
 “We’re trying to find a way forward in a bipartisan way that would continue to provide fairness to the American people under Obamacare,” Mr. Boehner said as he acknowledged “there are a lot of opinions” among his rambunctious members. 
 
 By Tuesday afternoon, House Republican leaders were back with a new proposal to fund the government through Dec. 15, extend the debt ceiling into February and deprive not only lawmakers but all their staff members of employer assistance to buy their health care. By extending that provision to staff members, Republican leaders hoped to appeal to its far-right flank, but it angered more moderate Republicans and was not enough for the conservative hard core. 
 
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 Complicating the speaker’s task, Heritage Action, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s political arm, which wields great influence with the most conservative elements of the Republican Party, opposed the plan. 
 
 “I think there’s always hope there can be a final package I can vote on, but this is not the one,” said Representative Ted Yoho, Republican of Florida, as he and two other Tea Party conservatives left the speaker’s office. 
 
 Republican leaders had initially hoped the loss of members like Mr. Yoho could be made up with support from Democrats. But Democratic leaders made it clear they would offer no assistance. Democrats latched on to a provision in the House proposals that would have forbidden the Treasury to juggle government accounts — so-called extraordinary measures — to meet obligations beyond a debt-ceiling deadline. 
 
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 In the midst of the turmoil, the credit rating agency Fitch put the United States on a “negative ratings watch,” warning that Congressional intransigence has put the full faith and credit of the government at risk. 
 
 The news came as the Treasury Department said it had only about $35 billion in cash on hand. It expects to run out of “extraordinary measures” to keep on paying all of the government’s bills on Thursday, at which point outgoing payments might exceed that cash, plus any revenues, on any day going forward. 
 
 As the United States nears default, investors have demanded more compensation for lending to the government, with yields on short-term debt spiking to their highest levels in years. 
 
 Fitch warned that Congress has not “raised the federal debt ceiling in a timely manner.” It said that it “continues to believe that the debt ceiling will be raised soon,” but that “political brinkmanship and reduced financing flexibility could increase the risk of a U.S. default.” ||||| Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidUFOs were not the only thing that the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program was studying Warren to propose 'wealth tax' on those with more than M in assets Overnight Health Care: Trump calls for crackdown on surprise medical bills | Trump officials give religious exemption to foster care program | Uninsured rate at highest level since 2014 | Juul hires former Harry Reid chief of staff MORE (D-Nev.) on Tuesday said Democrats would defeat the latest proposal from House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerMomentum for earmarks grows with Dem majority Cannabis company says CBS refused to run its Super Bowl ad advocating for medical marijuana Breaking the impasse on shutdown, border security MORE (R-Ohio) to raise the debt ceiling. 
 
 He accused Boehner John Andrew BoehnerMomentum for earmarks grows with Dem majority Cannabis company says CBS refused to run its Super Bowl ad advocating for medical marijuana Breaking the impasse on shutdown, border security MORE of being beholden to Tea Party conservatives in his caucus, and questioned the Speaker’s commitment to avoiding a default. 
 
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 “Speaker Boehner's plan is not a compromise. It was written for the Tea Party, not the American people. Democrats will not vote for it. Democrats will not vote for it. Democrats will not vote for it,” Reid said. 
 
 “It's dead on arrival in the Senate, if they get it out of the House,” he added. 
 
 Reid reiterated that it is the firm position of Senate Democrats that a short-term increase in the debt limit is not acceptable. 
 
 “We're not going to have a short-term extension, so there's no discussions regarding that. We will not do that. The president won't agree to that and my caucus will not agree to it,” Reid said. 
 
 Boehner’s plan would raise the debt ceiling by about $1 trillion, requiring Congress to act again next year to extend borrowing authority beyond the 2012 election. 
 
 The White House announced Tuesday that senior administration officials would recommend President Obama veto Boehner’s proposal. 
 
 “The administration strongly opposes House passage of the amendment in the nature of a substitute to S. 627. If 627 is presented to the president, the president’s senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill,” read the statement of administration policy. 
 
 Watch Reid below. 
 
 This story was updated at 4:20 p.m. ||||| “No Congress before this one has ever, ever, in history been irresponsible enough to threaten default, to threaten an economic shutdown, to suggest America not pay its bills, just to try to blackmail a president into giving them some concessions on issues that have nothing to do with a budget,” Mr. Obama said before a friendly audience in suburban Washington. 
 
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 The bitter back and forth in the absence of any high-level discussions between Republicans and Democrats was seen as increasing the possibility of a shutdown or default. It was a marked contrast from past showdowns when talks were taking place behind the scenes even as the parties traded public partisan shots. 
 
 The Senate faces a critical vote on Friday to cut off debate on legislation to keep the government open. If Democrats muster 60 votes, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, will move to strip out House language that guts the health care law and pass a stopgap spending bill that finances the government through Nov. 15, without Republican policy prescriptions. 
 
 At that point, no one is sure how the House will react. 
 
 “There is no secret room where everyone is sitting down and hashing this out,” said Senator Patty Murray, the Washington Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee. 
 
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 Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, encouraged Democrats to come to the table. 
 
 “We call on the president to sit down with us, Harry Reid to sit down with us, and let’s resolve this problem,” he said. 
 
 But in their efforts to unify restive Republicans, House leaders were only widening the partisan divisions. Behind closed doors on Thursday, they laid out their demands for a debt ceiling increase that include the health law delay, fast-track authority to overhaul the tax code, construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, offshore oil and gas production and more permitting of energy exploration on federal lands. 
 
 The legislation would also roll back regulations on coal ash, block new Environmental Protection Agency regulations on greenhouse gas production, eliminate a $23 billion fund to ensure the orderly dissolution of failed major banks, eliminate mandatory contributions to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, limit medical malpractice lawsuits and increase means testing for Medicare, among other provisions. 
 
 Even with that legislative Christmas tree, many Republican backbenchers balked. After introducing the measure to his divided troops, a sheepish speaker of the House faced the press with a grimace. “Oh, this ought to be a blast,” Mr. Boehner sighed as he opened a news conference for questions. 
 
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 Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 2 Democrat, derided the proposal. “The House is attaching the Republican Party platform to the debt ceiling,” he said. “In a week full of absurdities, this one takes the cake.” 
 
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 Republican divisions in the Senate burst into full public view on Thursday. Incensed that hard-liners in his party were slowing final votes on legislation to keep the government open, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, went to the Senate floor to accuse two fellow Republican senators, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, of grandstanding for the benefit of their conservative-activist followers. 
 
 “Y’all have sent out releases and e-mails, and you want everybody to be able to watch,” he charged. 
 
 Economists of all political persuasions have warned that a failure to raise the debt ceiling by the Treasury’s deadline of Oct. 17 could be catastrophic. The world economy’s faith in the safety of Treasury debt would be shaken for years. Interest rates could shoot up, and stock prices worldwide would most likely plummet. 
 
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 “Defaulting on any obligation of the U.S. government would be a dangerous gamble,” Doug Elmendorf, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, told the House Budget Committee on Thursday. “In a very uncertain world, the one thing everyone has been able to count on is that the U.S. government will pay its bills on time.” 
 
 But many House Republicans put little stock in such pronouncements. 
 
 “Economists, what have they been doing? They make all sorts of predictions,” said Representative John Fleming, Republican of Louisiana. “Many times they’re wrong, so I don’t think we should run government based on economists’ predictions.” 
 
 Those who do believe in the dangers said that they provide precisely the leverage they need to win passage of their priorities. 
 
 “People have to recognize there’s never any compromise until the stakes are high,” said Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California. “In our society, that’s the nature of democratic government.” 
 
 With the twin clocks ticking, Democratic leaders seem paralyzed by rage, claiming Republicans are relying on Democrats to be “the responsible adult in the room” and cave to their hostage-taking. 
 
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 “They have a responsibility to the country. They have a responsibility to their constituents and their children,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House’s No. 2 Democrat. “They are damaging the country, and the public ought to make them pay a price.” 
 
 Democrats — and some Republicans — worried that the shift to the debt-ceiling fight is leaving the government heading to a shutdown on Tuesday with no resolution in sight. 
 
 “I’d like to see us keep that focus there,” said Representative Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia, who led the fight to link further government funding to gutting the Affordable Care Act. “We’ve got a responsibility to finish this up and let it play out.” 
 
 Ms. Murray said the shift in focus from a short-term stopgap spending bill that keeps the government open to the debt ceiling is coming because “Republicans realize fighting a small battle over a small bill is a waste of time.” 
 
 She called the House debt ceiling “Christmas list” unserious. 
 
 “This is not the time to throw in your 50 favorite flavors,” she said. “You can’t just throw everything against the wall and see what happens.”
– House Republicans don't look ready to fall in behind Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell's plan to end the shutdown, and Democrats are lining up to take a swing at their effort. The House leadership today proposed an alternative plan that would include extra changes to ObamaCare, including a two-year delay on the tax on medical devices, and the elimination of federal subsidies for members of Congress and White House staff, the AP reports. "We think we've enhanced it in a number of ways," Darrell Issa tells the Washington Post, though he refused to say what Republicans would do if Democrats balked. And Democrats balked mightily. The White House quickly rejected the proposal as a "a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans," and insisted it would not pay a "ransom," the Hill reports. House Democratic leaders called the plan "irresponsible," and Harry Reid said it was a "waste of time" that "will not pass the Senate. Even before Democrats spoke, Boehner seemed to be distancing himself from the reports, telling reporters that House leadership has made "no decisions about what exactly we will do." He added that "there are a lot of opinions" among his caucus. The New York Times interpreted that as the House plan collapsing, and CNN reports that Boehner is "struggling" to find the votes for the proposal. But Politico's story indicates that there's still fight left in House leadership, with sources saying that they're considering voting on their proposal, then hightailing it out of Washington, leaving the Senate with two choices: Pass the House bill, or let the country default.