Disarray among House Republicans surfaced Tuesday as the Senate closed in on an agreement to reopen the government and avoid a possible U.S. default as soon as this week.

House Speaker John Boehner was “struggling” to come up with enough votes to pass a GOP counter-proposal to the Senate plan, a House Republican leadership aide and other sources told CNN’s Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh.

After a two-hour meeting with his caucus that lasted twice as long as scheduled, Boehner told reporters there was no final decision on what the GOP-led House would do.

Source: CNN – CNN: House GOP disarray surfaces over possible shutdown plan

House GOP leaders are struggling to settle on a plan to open the federal government and raise the country’s debt ceiling that would placate the most conservative members of their rank and file, while Senate leaders grow increasingly concerned that the House’s latest actions could stymie a bipartisan agreement they are close to brokering to end the standoff.

Republicans in the House aim to build off the work of Senate leaders, but adding new sweeteners to their own plan that could help more conservative members get on board with a compromise.

The House plan would likely include more changes to President Obama’s health care law, including a delay in a tax on medical devices and a provision that would force members of Congress, their staff and cabinet members to get their health insurance from exchanges.

But even before the details of the plan emerged, the White House signaled that President Obama would reject it.

Source: ABC News – ABC News: Splintered House GOP Undermines Senate Progress on Shutdown, Debt Ceiling

The government shutdown began with Democrats saying Republican demands about Obamacare were ‘extortion.’ Now, as the GOP resistance collapses, Senate Democrats are pushing back.

For the past few weeks, Democrats from the president on down decried Republican tactics on a potential government shutdown as political hostage-taking on a par with “extortion.” So, of course, now that the Republicans are on the run, the Democrats are doing the exact same thing in reverse.

They’re saying they want to undo major part of the sequester budget cuts as part of a deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt limit. It’s as though Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada has finally sensed his moment to destroy that product of tea party Republicanism once and for all. One might not even be surprised if “Ride of the Valkyries” was booming from his Senate office this morning.

That is how dramatically the story in Washington has flipped during the two weeks since the government shutdown.

Source: Yahoo! News – Yahoo! News: Government shutdown backfires? GOP says Democrats now guilty of extortion

For the first time, optimism has come from both sides of the aisle in negotiations toward raising the country’s debt limit.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters there was “tremendous progress” in negotiations. Sources close to the negotiations said that a deal to ending the partial government shutdown is being neared as well.

“We hope with good fortune,” Reid told reporters. “Perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We’re not there yet.”

Closed door meetings of both parties were scheduled for Tuesday. However, there is concern that even if a deal is reached in the Senate on Tuesday, there will not be enough time for both houses of Congress to act before the Thursday deadline.

There is also concern that some Republicans would act to slow down any deal from being passed before the Thursday deadline.

House Republicans have sent a proposal to President Obama that would end the 11 day partial government shutdown and avert a default by raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

The proposal includes changes in Obamacare as part of the end to the impasse. Also, some benefit programs would also see budget cuts.

The President has previously said he will not negotiate with Republicans on federal spending until the government is reopened and the debt ceiling raised without any conditions. The White House had seemed open to negotiation on Thursday until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared at the White House to have a meeting with the President.

“[It’s time to] put this hysterical talk of default behind us and instead start talking about finding solutions to the problems,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.

It may be a temporary victory but the children who play lacrosse in Northern Virginia with the McLean Youth Lacrosse organization are celebrating.

A court case was filed on behalf of the players of that league to reopen Langley Fork Park in McLean, Virginia, which had been shut down by the National Park Service due to the government shutdown. The park is located on federal land but is operated by Fairfax County Park Authority who has funds to continue operating the park.

The crux of the case was that the players paid their fees for use of the park to Fairfax County, not the National Park Service. The judge ruled because the local entity runs all operations of the park, the federal government cannot stop a group that legally paid for use of the park from using facilities.

There will be another hearing on October 18th for a more permanent injunction should the government continue to be shuttered.

Legal observers say while this case does not impact any other parks on federal land that are run by state or private groups, it does set a precedent and it’s likely more cases will be filed in the next few days.