Senate leaders say they're optimistic of an eleventh-hour bipartisan agreement on Wednesday that would avoid a government default after their House colleagues failed to produce a plan that could pass muster.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were set to pick up the pieces from the fractious and fruitless night in the House that accomplished little more than running down the clock.
"Given tonight's events, the Leaders have decided to work toward a solution that would reopen the government and prevent default," Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said in a statement. "They are optimistic an agreement can be reached."
Their effort to forge a deal acceptable to both parties to restart the government and renew its authority to borrow was given urgency on Tuesday by a warning issued by Fitch Ratings, the third-largest credit rating agency, which said the debacle in Washington meant it was placing the country's long-term credit rating under review for a potential downgrade.
If you haven't been following every twist and turn, here are the latest events from each chamber:
In The House:
On Tuesday evening, House Republicans tried and failed to produce their own plan for ending the stalemate, but in the end it wasn't Democrats who scuttled their efforts, but divisions among GOP lawmakers.
In the early evening, the House had crafted a plan to end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling in exchange for some changes in the Affordable Care Act, which has been a key stumbling block throughout the weeks of negotiations. But when Heritage Action for America, a lobby group affiliated with the conservative Heritage Foundation weighed in against the plan, what little resolve that might have existed Republicans quickly evaporated.
As Politico writes of House Speaker John Boehner:
"[Battered] from three years of intra-party battles, [he] was caught between at least three different GOP factions as he tried to craft a compromise agreement: Republicans who didn't want to slash government health care contributions for Capitol Hill aides, members who thought repealing the medical device tax was a giveaway to corporate America and conservatives, who thought Republican leaders were too soft on Obamacare.
Boehner was unable to craft a deal that would satisfy all of the groups, forcing him to shelve his plan and show the world — again — just how hard it is for him to rule the raucous House Republican Conference.
No amount of political gymnastics would help him reach the crucial 217 vote-level to send a bill to the Senate. GOP aides said that Boehner was — at a minimum — 20 to 30 votes short of the target."