There were news conferences and a high-level phone call between
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, but no immediate
sign of progress on reopening the government a week into a partial
shutdown or reaching a deal to avoid the first-ever U.S. default next
week.
Obama called Boehner on
Tuesday morning, and the White House then announced the president would
make a statement and take some questions from reporters at 2 p.m. ET.
Earlier, Boehner demanded
that Obama and Democrats negotiate with Republicans on steps needed to
end the shutdown that began on October 1 and raise the nation's debt
ceiling before the deadline for default on October 17.
