President Barack Obama rejected a Republican proposal for a short-term debt limit hike, the New York Times reports.
However, Republicans immediately pushed back against the paper's report. "He did not reject," one House GOP leadership aide who was at the meeting said flatly.
On Thursday, Republican House leaders offered Obama and the Senate a six-week hike of the debt limit, pushing the deadline from Oct. 17 to around Thanksgiving. The offer did not, however, include a deal to reopen the shuttered federal government. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said earlier Thursday the deal was "not going to happen."
A statement from the White House said that, though no determination was made, Obama "looks forward to making continued progress with members on both sides of the aisle."
"The President’s goal remains to ensure we pay the bills we’ve incurred, reopen the government and get back to the business of growing the economy, creating jobs and strengthening the middle class," the statement said.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor hoped for "a clearer path" moving forward.
“We had a very useful meeting, and we expect further conversations tonight,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).
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