Countdown to Shutdown

A Capitol Hill source tells Jonathan Cohn that backroom talks between House Republicans and the Obama administration over the pending budget deadline and debt ceiling limit have stopped: “The breakdown is more extensive than you’ve heard. There is no discussion going on at all at this point.”

The person added: “Nobody knows how this will end. I’m not sure I remember a time when sides were as far apart as this.”

Jonathan Chait: “The tension between the two parties is higher now than ever before because they disagree not only on underlying policy but on the basic premises of shared governance.”