No sign of progress in latest round of White House debt talks

{mosads}The small group of Republicans had hoped that this week would turn a gabfest into a real negotiation. The group has discussed a range of approaches, from a grand bargain to a smaller deal that turns off several years of automatic spending cuts known as sequestration through an enactment of entitlement cuts. 

“Anytime you are talking and you don’t come out with a black eye, that’s good,” Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) told reporters. “I think both sides have been presenting solid idea and using the other side as a sounding board, but we’re not negotiating. We’re trying to find common ground.”

“I always enjoy talking to Denis,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said of President Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said the group would meet again on Thursday and demurred when asked if any concrete proposal had been put forth.

“As long as we’re talking, it’s constructive,” Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) said. 

Also spotted in the meeting were Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), White House Budget Director Sylvia Burwell and Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors.