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Business Groups Urge Congress to Reopen as Shutdown Drags On As Pressure Mounts, House G.O.P. Weighs Short-Term Debt Deal
(about 7 hours later)
WASHINGTON — House Republicans, facing the ninth day of a government shutdown, appeared increasingly isolated on Wednesday from even their strongest backers, with business groups demanding the immediate reopening of the government and benefactors such as Koch Industries publicly distancing themselves from the shutdown fight. WASHINGTON — House Republicans, increasingly isolated from even some of their strongest supporters more than a week into a government shutdown, began on Wednesday to consider a path out of the fiscal impasse that would raise the debt ceiling for a few weeks as they press for a broader deficit reduction deal.
Republican and Democratic leaders met at noon to try to find a way forward, both on reopening the government and on raising the federal debt limit before the Treasury exhausts its ability to borrow on Oct. 17. Leading Republicans in the House appeared to be trying to move the stalemate away from efforts to defund President Obama’s health care law to a broader discussion of fiscal policy. That approach could possibly set aside the fight over the new health care law, which prompted the shutdown and which some Republicans will be reluctant to abandon.
In an opinion piece in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed negotiating a continuing resolution to reopen the government with a focus on changes to entitlement programs like Medicare and a reshaping of the federal tax code. He did not mention the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans had said must be defunded, delayed or damaged before the full government is to be reopened. In a meeting with the most ardent House conservatives, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, laid out a package focused on an overhaul of Medicare and a path toward a comprehensive simplification of the tax code.
It was not clear whether conservative rank-and-file Republicans would go along with that redirection. But other voices usually allied with Republicans stepped up pleas for an end to the standoff. On Wednesday, the National Retail Federation joined other business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers in asking House Republicans to relent. “We’re more in the ideas stage right now,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. “There is a developing consensus that this is a lot bigger than an Obamacare discussion.”
“We strongly support passage of both a continuing resolution to provide for funding of the federal government into the next fiscal year and a measure to raise the nation’s debt ceiling,” the group’s president, Matthew Shay said in a letter to Congress that highlighted economic indicators showing that the shutdown has already hurt consumer spending and depressed consumer confidence. At the same time, Congressional leaders from both parties began some preliminary discussions aimed at reopening the government and raising the statutory borrowing limit. And President Obama, who invited House Democrats on Wednesday, asked all House Republicans to the White House on Thursday, an invitation Speaker John A. Boehner whittled down to a short list of attendees he wants to negotiate a compromise.
President Obama has planned a series of meetings with lawmakers. He is scheduled to meet this evening with House Democrats at the White House, and to meet separately later this week with House Republicans, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats. Democrats showed their own cracks. Twenty-six House Democrats planned to attend a bipartisan event Thursday morning with the group No Labels, calling for negotiations to start immediately, a challenge to the president and to Democratic leaders who say they will not negotiate until the government reopens and the debt ceiling is lifted.
Meantime, Koch Industries accused Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, on Wednesday of spreading “false information” about the Koch brothers by suggesting they were behind the move to end financing for President Obama’s health care law and the partial shutdown of the federal government. In the meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama held firm to his stated intention to negotiate with Republicans only after the government is reopened and the debt ceiling is raised. He told Democrats that if he gives in now, Republican demands would be endless. “The only thing not on their list is my own resignation,” he told Democrats, according to a lawmaker in the room.
With the impact of the shutdown starting to intensify, House Republicans were taking criticism from some of their longtime backers. Business groups demanded the immediate reopening of the government, and benefactors like Koch Industries publicly distanced themselves from the shutdown fight.
Republicans acknowledged the pressure is mounting on them. On Wednesday, the National Retail Federation joined other reliably Republican business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers in asking House Republicans to relent.
“We strongly support passage of both a continuing resolution to provide for funding of the federal government into the next fiscal year and a measure to raise the nation’s debt ceiling,” the National Retail Federation’s president, Matthew Shay, said in a letter to Congress that pointed out economic indicators showing that the shutdown has already hurt consumer spending and depressed consumer confidence.
In the meantime, Koch Industries accused Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, on Wednesday of spreading “false information” about the company by suggesting it was behind the move to tie a demand to keep the government open only if financing was eliminated for Mr. Obama’s health care law.
“Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care and raise taxes,” Philip Ellender, the company’s chief spokesman, wrote in a letter to senators. “However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare, nor have we lobbied on legislative programs defunding Obamacare.”“Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care and raise taxes,” Philip Ellender, the company’s chief spokesman, wrote in a letter to senators. “However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare, nor have we lobbied on legislative programs defunding Obamacare.”
In the House and Senate, lawmakers in both parties highlighted the effect of the shutdown on veterans programs and death benefits for the families of service members killed in action. House Republicans, who have already passed a piecemeal spending bill to reopen the Veterans Affairs Department, moved to vote Wednesday afternoon on a bill to finance death benefits. Mr. Ryan’s meeting with the conservative Republican Study Committee seemed only to divide its ranks on the most critical issue: whether to set aside the fight over the president’s health care law and focus on long-term deficit reduction. The group’s leader, Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, emerged still adamant that any way forward must include a hit to the Affordable Care Act, even if the package focused on entitlement programs — also called “mandatory” spending.
But Senate Democrats remained insistent that they would accept nothing short of a full reopening of the government. Veterans suffering under the shutdown rely on a variety of programs, within the V.A. but also from the departments of labor and housing and urban development, they said. “We’ve always talked about mandatory spending being addressed in a debt ceiling increase, but keep in mind Obamacare is part of mandatory spending,” he said.
“To run the government by cause du jour is simply not the way the government can function,” said Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana. Other conservatives showed a new flexibility. Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama and a fierce critic of the health care law, came out of the meeting and said: “My primary focus is on minimizing risk of insolvency and bankruptcy. There are many paths you can take to get there.
At a House hearing on death benefits, Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, asked Eric K. Shinseki, the secretary of veterans affairs, “Do you think Harry Reid doesn’t like the V.A. or our veterans?” “Socialized medicine is just one of the component parts of our debt and deficits that put us at financial risk. Are there paths that can be created that do not include socialized medicine?” he asked. “Yes.”
Mr. Shinseki, looking baffled, replied: “I think he highly values veterans. As to why Congress is unable to do its business, I will leave to the members to discuss.” Members suggested they could get behind a lifting of the debt ceiling for several weeks to allow Republicans to unite around a deficit reduction and tax overhaul package.
Representative Tim Walz, Democrat of Minnesota, called the question “beneath the dignity” of the veterans affairs committee and offered Mr. Huelskamp 30 seconds to apologize. He declined. “If we cannot get an agreement with the president at some point in time in the next few days, we’ll look at something short term,” said Mr. Scalise, echoing a suggestion Mr. Obama floated on Tuesday.

Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.

But, the congressman said, even that should have spending cuts attached. He also said that a debt-ceiling hike of even three weeks should include a measure passed by the House denying federal subsidies to congressmen, White House officials and their staff members, who already must buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s new exchanges. And, he suggested, conservatives might insist on another House bill that would allow the Treasury to borrow enough money to pay off debts as they become due, taking away the threat of a government default.
All of those measures would be stiffly resisted by Senate Democrats and the White House.
Still, lawmakers did appear to be looking for a way forward after days of simply staring at one another. Ahead of the Wednesday meeting with House Democrats at the White House, Mr. Obama invited all House Republicans to a get-together on Thursday. Mr. Boehner saw a meeting between the president and 232 Republicans as a photo opportunity with no chance of producing substantive discussions. So he reduced the invitation list to 18.
That will at least give the appearance of negotiations if it fails to prompt actual substantive talks.
“Finally, the White House has invited Congressional leaders to talk,” Mr. Rogers said in a statement. “I am hopeful the president is serious about finding a deal that results in meaningful spending and entitlement reforms, judiciously extends U.S. government borrowing authority, reopens all federal agencies, and paves the way for the enactment of future appropriations bills so that this lurching from crisis to crisis can be put to an end.”

Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.