Obama, GOP leaders set for crunch talks on debt limit

Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to divulge details of the private deliberations, said there is far less urgency among leaders about ending the current government shutdown – which has caused financial hardship and inconvenience for many Americans – than about the prospect of the widespread economic damage a default might bring.

Lew reminded Congress Thursday that with Washington's fiscal paralysis, social security recipients livelihoods are threatened. "Workers have their savings at stake," he said.

Still, there were hints of the possibility of a truce amid the bitter partisan acrimony over Republicans’ insistence on linking a government-funding measure to delaying parts of the Obama administration’s signature Affordable Care Act, designed to offer cheaper health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans. Republicans say the act is too expensive and obtrusive.

While neither side has shown clear signs of bending, there are indications that both sides might be open to a short-term extension of the $16.7 trillion borrowing limit and a temporary end to the shutdown, giving them more time to resolve their disputes.

Obama also met with House Democrats Wednesday afternoon as both parties seek a way forward.

So far, the underlying standoff remains the same. Republicans demand talks on deficit reduction and the 2010 health-care law as the price for boosting the government's borrowing authority and returning civil servants to work. The president insists that Congress first end the shutdown and extend the debt limit before he will negotiate.

"Speaker Boehner could end this government shutdown today, an hour from now," by letting the House vote to do so, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday.

Boehner had earlier told reporters he was not drawing "lines in the sand." He sidestepped a question about whether he would raise the debt limit and fund government for short periods, saying, "I'm not going to get into a whole lot of speculation."

Hours later, Obama used a White House news conference to say he "absolutely" would negotiate with Republicans on "every item in the budget," if Congress first sent him short-term measures halting the shutdown and extending the debt limit.

WATCH: NON-PROFIT TO STEP IN TO PAY MILITARY DEATH BENEFITS DURING SHUTDOWN

Meanwhile, House lawmakers voted 425–0 Wednesday on a measure to finance death benefits to families of U.S. troops killed in action. Blaming the government shutdown, the Pentagon had halted the $100,000 payments, usually made within three days of a death. The shutdown, which has seen government services stalled and hundreds of thousands of workers furloughed, is now in its ninth day. 

Boehner had earlier blasted Obama’s administration for withholding the death-benefit payments, saying Congress gave the Defense Department broad authority to continue paying bills such as the death payments in a law passed just before the government halted operations on Oct. 1.

"Frankly, I think it's disgraceful that they're withholding these benefits," Boehner told reporters.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued a statement Wednesday saying the Rockville, Md.–based Fisher House Foundation, which operates housing facilities for veterans’ families, would cover the benefits during the shutdown.

The charity had stepped forward and offered to provide the service, and the Pentagon will reimburse the foundation after the shutdown is over.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press