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Efforts to end the US government shutdown and avoid a debt default before the Tuesday deadline remained elusive as the White House on Tuesday dismissed the latest House Republican proposal to resolve the impasse, alleging it was tantamount to "ransom".
"The President (Barack Obama) has said repeatedly that Members of Congress don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a Budget and pay the nation's bills," said White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage. "Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place," she said.
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate were working in a "bipartisan, good-faith effort to end the manufactured crises" that have harmed families and business owners, she said. With only a couple of days remaining until the US exhausts its borrowing authority, it is time for the House to do the same, she added.
President Obama was scheduled to meet the House Democrat leadership, including chairperson Nancy Pelosi, later in the day to chalk out their next course of action.
Earlier, House Republicans, in a closed-door meeting, announced a plan to keep the government open until January 15, 2014, and lift the debt ceiling by February 7.
The plan under discussion would raise the $16.7-trillion debt ceiling by enough to cover the nation's borrowing needs at least through mid-February.
