U.S. leaders resume talks to resolve government shutdown

(Vatican Radio) The U.S. Senate is preparing for a last ditch effort today to avoid a historic lapse in the government's borrowing authority, a breach that President Barack Obama has said could lead to default and deliver a damaging blow to the global economy.

After a day of stop-and-go negotiations, the top Democrat
and Republican in the U.S. Senate were said to be close to
agreeing on a proposal to raise the debt limit - and reopen the
partially shuttered government - for consideration by the full
Senate on Wednesday.

The measure's fate remained uncertain in the divided Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which failed twice Tuesday to produce its own plan.

Following weeks of bitter fighting among Democrats and Republicans, the layoff of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and turmoil for stock markets, the deal under discussion - if eventually enacted - would basically give President Barack Obama what he has demanded for months: A straight-forward debt limit hike and government funding bill.

The deal would extend U.S. borrowing authority until Feb. 7, although the Treasury Department would have tools to temporarily
extend its borrowing capacity beyond that date if Congress
failed to act early next year.

With the final details not yet nailed down, as it stood Tuesday night, the agreement envisioned funding government agencies until Jan. 15, ending a partial government shutdown that began with the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: