The White House urged Congress on Saturday to "do its job" and find a solution to end a fiscal impasse over raising the U.S. debt ceiling and end a government shutdown after the Senate rejected a Democratic plan.


A statement from White House press secretary Jay Carney said it was unfortunate that the Senate Democratic plan failed to pass because it would have taken the threat of a debt default off the table ahead of a looming Thursday deadline.


"Congress must do its job and raise the debt limit to pay the bills we have incurred and avoid default," said Carney.


With five days left until the government runs out of borrowing authority, said Carney, "Congress needs to move forward with a solution that reopens the government and allows us to pay our bills."



The Senate group had been considering a proposal by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and others that would pair a six-month plan to keep the government open with an increase in the government's borrowing limit through January.


U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Saturday said he hoped to hammer out a deal with the Republicans within 48 hours. Reid welcomed the start of negotiations with Senate Republicans on a way to end the 12-day-old government shutdown, but said there was a "long way to go" on fiscal talks.


Reid said he met on Saturday with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. But Reid also said that Republicans must allow the U.S. government to reopen and support fast action on raising federal borrowing authority to avoid a historic default in order to achieve progress on other budget issues