Government Shutdown Not Yet Averted As White House Meeting Fails To Produce Deal

President Barack Obama says another round of talks with congressional leaders has helped but there is no deal yet to avert a government shutdown.

Obama said he hoped to be able to announce a deal on Friday but "there's no certainty yet." He said he told House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he wants an answer in the morning.

The president spoke briefly to reporters after meeting for roughly an hour in the Oval Office with Boehner and Reid. Those two leaders said jointly that the latest round of talks had narrowed the issues. They pledged to work through the night to break the impasse.

Government Shutdown Threatened By Republicans Over Planned Parenthood

The United States government is on the verge of shutting down over a dispute about subsidized pap smears, according to sources familiar with the budget negotiations.

The White House and Senate Democrats have publicly capitulated to ever-increasing Republican demands for spending cuts, but negotiations over the budget for the remainder of the fiscal year have shifted their focus from money to so-called riders -- provisions that restrict the federal government from spending money on certain projects or entities.

Riders are used by members of Congress to make social policy without going through the regular congressional committee process, or they are used to benefit business interests by specifically blocking the government from spending money to write or enforce certain regulations........