new content is available. click to update.  House Republicans are regrouping around a new version of their bill to reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit, with a vote by the full House expected as soon as Tuesday night.  The measure would raise the debt limit through Feb. 7, as in the original proposal. But it would fund federal agencies only through Dec. 15, creating the threat of another government shutdown just before Christmas if lawmakers fail to resolve a dispute over deep spending cuts known as the sequester.  Republicans decided to drop their bid to repeal a tax on medical devices that helps to fund President Obama’s health-care law. But in addition to denying employer subsidies to lawmakers and members of the executive branch, conservatives insisted on denying those subsidies to their own congressional staffs as well.  Republicans also adjusted another proposal to make clear that the Treasury Department would be only temporarily barred from using extraordinary measures to juggle the books after the Feb. 7 deadline.  GOP leadership aides said the new measure had been submitted to the House Rules Committee, the first step to a vote on the House floor. But as Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team continued trying to round up support for the bill, aides said it remained uncertain when a vote before the full House would take place.  If Republicans manage to push the measure through the House, it would go to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has voiced strong objections to ending employer health subsidies for congressional staff. Democrats are also insisting that the Treasury Department maintain flexibility to manage the next debt-limit deadline.  House GOP leaders have stripped a two-year delay of the medical device tax from their proposal to end the government shutdown and pass a new debt ceiling increase, GOP members and aides confirmed Tuesday afternoon.  The delaying measure, while popular, proved a stumbling block in negotiations because it is part of President Obama’s signature health-care law — a line the White House and Democrats did not want to cross in the current negotiations.  The Affordable Care Act is funded in part by the medical device tax.  The scrapping of the medical device tax delay was first reported by National Review’s Robert Costa.  Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) told CNN “it does not appear that there are the votes” to pass the plan House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) laid out Tuesday morning.  Dent also suggested that the GOP-controlled House may not send over a bill at all.  “I suspect at this point, the House must regroup, and determine what bill we’ll send over to the Senate — if any,” Dent said.  From Bloomberg News Managing Editor Michael Tackett:  BREAKING. Sen. Feinstein says “it’s all fallen apart”  — Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) October 15, 2013  The key to resolving a more than two-week federal government shutdown and looming debt crisis might just be an obscure tax that most people have never heard of.  We’re talking about the medical device tax, a component of President Obama’s health-care law that has drawn bipartisan criticism. If lawmakers are able to forge a deal that wins passage in both chambers of Congress, there’s growing evidence to suggest the tax could be a key piece of the final agreement.  For a closer look at why, head to The Fix.  A new Pew Research Center poll shows a majority of Republicans and many independents are just fine with the idea of not raising the debt limit by the Treasury Department’s Oct. 17 deadline.  The poll shows 52 percent of Republicans, 38 percent of independents and 36 percent of Americans overall say the country can go past that deadline without major economic problems.  Overall concern is growing — albeit slightly.  Just more than half of Americans — 51 percent — say it is essential to raise the debt ceiling to avoid an economic crisis. That’s slightly more than the 47 percent of Americans who said the same last week.  There is a huge partisan split on this questions, with 37 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats in the new poll believing there would be an economic crisis.  The White House has warned of a default if the debt-ceiling deadline isn’t met, but some Republicans in Congress note that the government can still pay interest on its loans even if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by the deadline — something they argue wouldn’t technically constitute a “default.”  White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday labeled these members “default deniers.”  Correction: This post initially transposed the week-old Pew poll with the new one. It has been updated.  Furloughed staff returned to the Latin American Youth Center today thanks to a donation from Capital One.  With contract reimbursements on hold due to the federal government shutdown, LAYC had insufficient cash to operate at full capacity. Last week the Columbia Heights nonprofit, which offers youth development services to 5,000 children each year, announced it had reduced its operations to essential services.  The $250,000 gift from Capital One will restore the charity’s usual programming, which includes job training, education and mentoring.  “Knowing how important it is to ensure continuity of supportive programs like homeless services and supports, afterschool programs, and workforce development training for at-risk youth and their families, we felt it was vital to help LAYC continue to serve the region through this difficult time,” said Jon Witter, Capital One’s president of retail and direct banking, in a statement. Capital One has been a longtime partner of the youth center.  It’s one of a crop of stories surfacing about philanthropists, businesses and other groups coming to aid of the nonprofit sector, which has seen detrimental financial impacts from the government shutdown.  Just last week, a Houston-based couple, Laura and John Arnold, gave $10 million in emergency funds to reopen Headstart programs in six states.  In the Senate, members of both parties said bipartisan talks were put on hold as they wait to see if Boehner can muster votes to send a plan from the House.  “They have seized ball control,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a junior member of leadership. “My sense is they have control of this issue on the House side for the next move and the Senate will wait and see what the House sends”  Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il.) said the Senate is now waiting for Boehner “to resolve his issues with his caucus,” indicating that he fears the process has now been slowed in the interim.  Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it wasn’t clear whether Boehner’s proposal had the support needed to pass the House.  “My advice to our leader would be that we should go ahead with the Senate plan and see what the House’s reaction is,” she said. “Time is getting very short the shutdown’s gone on far too long and with each passing day causes additional harm.”  “The Senate has the responsibility to lead and that’s just what we should do,” she said.  Rank-and-file House Republicans said they had been assured by leadership that they were working to modify their proposal to pick up votes.  But concerns from conservatives raised during the unusually lengthy two-hour conference meeting appeared wide-ranging.  One concern, several said, was that House Republicans were proposing to eliminate employer health-care contributions for White House staff and members of Congress, but not Congressional staffers. Some conservatives believed it would be more fair to apply the measure to Congressional staffers.  Others wanted the bill to include spending cuts or entitlement reforms. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) said some members were seeking to add the “conscience clause” to the proposal — removing a provision under the federal health care law that requires insurance plans cover contraception.  And other members objected to accepting the key Jan. 15 and Feb. 7 dates envisioned in Senate negotiations. “There was a lot of discussion of dates. A lot,” said Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.).  That’s the takeaway from White House press secretary Jay Carney’s daily briefing.  “So we’re, you know, encouraged by the progress that we’ve seen in the Senate, but we’re far from a deal at this point,” Carney said. “And so we hope that — we hope that progress continues.”  Carney also rebuffed the House GOP’s idea for a two-year delay of the medical device tax and denied reports based on House GOP staff that the White House actually proposed the idea.  “That is not true,” Carney said. “What we have always said is that discussions of the medical device tax or other elements within the Affordable Care Act that lawmakers want to talk about in an effort to improve the Affordable Care Act we are willing to have, but not as in the context of or as ransom for opening the government. That is why a provision like that appears in the latest proposal that seems to be going nowhere from House Republicans, because it’s an effort to try to buy votes from tea party Republicans who shut this government down in the first place.”  Here’s more from the briefing, from Juliet Eilperin:  Jay @PressSec: “There’s no question that we’re very close to a very important deadline, and time is of the essence.”  — Juliet Eilperin (@eilperin) October 15, 2013  You’ve heard of “climate deniers.” But now @PressSec has coined a new term: “debt limit deniers” and “default deniers.” — Juliet Eilperin (@eilperin) October 15, 2013  Carney on whether HHS head would lose her job over #Obamacare: “Sebelius does have the full confidence of the president”  — Juliet Eilperin (@eilperin) October 15, 2013  Carney on negotiating over shutdown: “It depends on what you mean by negotiating. He’s been talking to lawmakers.”  — Juliet Eilperin (@eilperin) October 15, 2013
Negotiations to end the U.S. government shutdown, now in its third week, were making significant progress in the Senate just days before the government exhausts its ability to borrow more money to pay its bills.