The government shutdown entered its 13th day Sunday as negotiations on how to end the budget standoff continued in Congress.
The Senate was set to return to work Sunday after rejecting a plan put forward by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Saturday.
Also sidelined, at least for now, was an effort by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to assemble a bipartisan coalition for a plan to briefly fund the government and extend the $16.7 trillion debt limit, in exchange for steps like temporarily delaying the medical device tax that helps fund the health care law.
Democrats said Collins' plan curbed spending too tightly and Reid said it was going nowhere. Collins said she would continue seeking support for it.
Democratic leaders in the Senate may have rejected a bipartisan push among more junior members to come up with a compromise to Capitol Hill's fiscal standoff, but at least a dozen senators working behind the scenes Sunday were still rallying around a plan led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
It's unclear how the effort has changed since Senate Democratic leaders shot it down Saturday in favor of direct talks between Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). But the basic idea was to fund the government through March at the levels specified for 2013 in the 2011 budget deal, and to raise the debt ceiling enough to last through January, to give time to negotiate a longer-term budget. The plan would leave Obamacare alone, but replace for two years a device tax that helps fund the law.
Even though Reid and his fellow leaders rejected the idea -- objecting both to the short-term debt limit hike and to keeping deeper across-the-board spending cuts in place through March -- it got a new burst of support on Sunday.
Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), both praised the bipartisan push in Senate floor speeches.
"We had a group of folks that had an idea. I thought it was a good starting place, candidly, with six Republicans and six Democrats, who had an idea of a way to move beyond this," said Corker.
"I want to associate myself with the effort underway by Sen. Collins from Maine and Sen. [Amy] Klobuchar from Minnesota (D), Sen. Mark Pryor (D) from Arkansas and others on both sides of the aisle that have been working throughout the evening, the night, early morning hours, talking, trying to find a way forward," said Landrieu.
to be continue on http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/13/government-shutdown-2013_n_4093166.html?ref=topbar#495_collins-plan-not-dead-yet
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