Senate leaders expressed optimism on Monday about the prospects of a deal to reopen the government and avert a default on the U.S. debt, which would take place if a deal is not reached by Thursday, CBS News reported.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was "very optimistic" that the two parties would negotiate an agreement this week after "constructive, good-faith negotiations" with Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, news reports said.
The White House announced on Monday afternoon that a meeting between congressional leaders and President Barack Obama would be postponed in order "to allow leaders in the Senate time to continue making important progress toward a solution that raises the debt limit and reopens the government."
McConnell is expected to meet with Senate Republicans on Tuesday.
A senior Senate aid said the "plan being discuss [involves] funding the government through January 15 and raise the debt limit through February 15. Other sources said that on December 15, budget negotiators would be required to offer a legislative solution to replace the spending cuts mandated by the sequester," news reports said.
Both sides said that the deal would not include a repeal or deal of the medical device tax. This feature may come up again during larger budget talks, news reports said.
"We'll see this afternoon whether this progress is real," President Obama said on Monday. "My hope is a spirit of cooperation will continue to move us forward during the next few hours."
Talks between the U.S. President and House Republicans have 'completely' stalled, according to CBS News' Nancy Cordes, leaving Reid and McConnell alone in hopes of ending the government shutdown which is approaching two weeks old.
Senate Republicans, like Arizona senator John McCain, said that Democrats have "become greedy," mainly for feeling emboldened by poll numbers, which suggested the GOP has received the brunt of blame for the crisis.
"I'm disappointed that twice they were close to a deal and the Democrats moved the goalpost in light of the polling data," McCain added.
Meanwhile, Xinhua News Agency, China's official state press, published a scathing commentary, where they put down America's budget impasse as reflective of their declining influence in the world.
"It is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world," Xinhua wrote in the publication. "The cyclical stagnation in Washington for a viable bipartisan solution over a federal budget and an approval for raising the debt ceiling has again left many nations' tremendous dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community highly agonized. The world is still crawling its way out of an economic disaster thanks to the voracious Wall Street elites," it adds.
"A self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies. Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing," the commentary concludes.
