With less than 48 hours to go before much of the federal government would have to shut down, there's been progress but no deal yet as President Obama, his fellow Democrats and Republican leaders in Congress try to settle on how much to cut from this year's federal budget.
The president emerged from a late night meeting with congressional leaders last night to say "I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown."
Later, The Associated Press writes, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "told reporters that the two sides had made progress, but differences remained."
Aides were to continue working through the night, and lawmakers are to pick up negotiations later today.
We'll post on developments as the day continues. And Frank James continues to follow the story over at It's All Politics. Wednesday, NPR's Liz Halloran explained for us " How A Government Shutdown Would Play Out."
Update at 2:28 p.m. ET. House Passes Bill That Obama Plans To Veto:
The Republican-controlled House just passed a bill that would keep the government running for another week. It's not expected to pass the Senate and the White House has already said President Obama would veto such a plan because he and Congressional Democrats want legislation that funds the government for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
So, the negotiations will continue.
Update at 10:15 a.m. ET. Meeting Set For 1 p.m ET:
The White House just announced that "the president and vice president meet with Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Reid" at 1 p.m. ET, "to discuss ongoing negotiations on a funding bill."
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