Boehner and Reid met at WH last night.
GOP ideological priorities remain stumbling
blocks to a deal. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
The latest:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday he is "less optimistic" about averting a government shutdown one day after a White House meeting failed to lead to a breakthrough in talks.
Reid (D-Nev.) said he is significantly more worried about the prospect of a shutdown than he was Wednesday evening when he and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) updated reporters on the talks.
Reid blamed a partisan dispute over Planned Parenthood and other hot-button ideological issues.
The White House announced that Reid and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will meet again with President Obama and Vice President Biden at 1 p.m. in the Oval Office.
According to to Reid, the numbers aren't the problem—both sides are more or less on the same page as far as spending is concern. The issue, he says, are the GOP policy riders that would bar the EPA from enforcing clean air regulations and would ban any federal funding for Planned Parenthood or family planning services.
There's still time to get a deal done, especially if it's just a matter of Republicans dropping their insistence on hard-line policy provisions, but if the GOP does shut the government down for ideological reasons, the punishment from voters is bound to be severe.