WASHINGTON — As talks over how to end the government shutdown and avert a default on the debt collapsed Saturday between House Republicans and the White House, theSenate's top leaders launched their own negotiations to find a last-ditch compromise, but the day drew to a close with no indication that they had made significant progress.
Speaker John A. Boehner told House Republicans that President Obama had rejected their efforts to enter into more substantive negotiations, according to lawmakers who attended the closed-door session. The Ohio Republican said it was now up to Senate Republicans to hold firm to extract concessions on the president's healthcare law and federal spending.
On Saturday morning, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) met in Reid's office for an hour, the first time they have sat down together to discuss a resolution since the government shutdown began 12 days ago.
"The conversation was extremely cordial but very preliminary — nothing conclusive," Reid said at a news conference. "This should be seen as something very positive — even though we don't have anything done yet and there is a long ways to go."
Senate Republicans have expressed frustration with the apparent indifference of their House counterparts to the political toll that has been taken on the party by the shutdown and the threat of a potentially catastrophic default on the nation's debt.
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