Negotiations over raising the US debt limit - even on a temporary basis - remained up in the air late Thursday after the country's top Republican leader rushed out of the White House with no comment, dpa reported.
Speaker of the House John Boehner was shown on TV hurrying to his car after he and other top Republicans in the House of Representatives spent one and a half hours meeting with President Barack Obama. The debt limit deadline is October 17.
Hopes for a temporary solution had been raised earlier when Republicans proposed a short term increase in the debt ceiling in exchange for a promise from Obama, a Democrat, to hold a "meaningful dialogue" about budget and spending issues.
The top congressional Democrat, Senator Harry Reid, and other Senate Democrats had earlier met with Obama. Afterwards, asked if Obama would negotiate with Republicans before the US government ends its 10-day Republican-forced shutdown, Reid quipped: "Not going to happen."