President Barack Obama will meet with business leaders on Wednesday and visit a small local construction company on Thursday as he hopes to push Congress to re-open the federal government.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama has not canceled his trip to Asia this weekend for a series of summits and meetings, though some say it will be unlikely the president would travel overseas during a shutdown.
We certainly hope that, in the time between now and the president's scheduled departure, the Speaker does the right thing," Carney said.
Obama was briefed by his senior staff Tuesday morning about the shutdown, but had not spoken to congressional leaders since Monday evening before the closure. Carney said that Obama expects to speak them in the coming days.
Carney dismissed two of the latest House proposals -- holding a conference committee at this late date and passing a series of smaller bills -- as not serious.
It's a "piecemeal approach to funding the government is not a serious approach any more than it would be a serious way to try to deal with the consequences of default and the absolute necessity to maintain the full faith and credit of the United States," he said.
Carney said Obama is willing to negotiate with "serious-minded" Republicans, but that he will not negotiate over funding the government or raising the debt ceiling.
"We're not negotiating with anybody to reopen the government," he said. "We're not negotiating with anyone for the Congress to pass the bill that would reopen the government on any partisan condition."
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