US President Barack Obama is willing to sign a “clean” short-term increase to the US borrowing limit that is free from Republican budget and policy demands, his spokesman has said.
Jay Carney’s remarks came amid talks aimed at ending the twin fiscal crises threatening the US and world economies.
The US is in the 11th day of a partial government shutdown.
But the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, closed by the shutdown, will now re-open.
The funding will be provided by the states of New York, Arizona and South Dakota, however, with other national parks and monuments remaining closed due to the deadlock in Washington.
As the well as the shutdown, the US is heading towards default if it does not raise its debt limit by 17 October.
“If the Congress were to pass a clean debt ceiling of short duration to avoid default, the president would sign that,” Mr Carney said, following rounds of talks among Mr Obama and Senate and House Republicans.
But Mr Carney reiterated the White House would not accept a debt ceiling rise with conditions attached, saying the right thing to do was to “remove that gun from the table”.
And the White House spokesman said there was still “no acceptable reason to keep the government shut down”.
The partial government shutdown, which has sent home hundreds of thousands of government workers on unpaid leave, began on 1 October after Republicans refused to pass a new budget unless Mr Obama and the Democrats agreed to delay Mr Obama’s signature healthcare reform law of 2010 or eliminate its funding.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not undermine the law, known as Obamacare, nor negotiate over larger budget matters, until Republicans vote to end the threat of default and reopen the government.
Mr Carney also condemned a proposal floated by the House Republicans for a six-week debt limit increase in exchange for broader budget negotiations.
He said it would “put us right back where we are today in just six weeks, on the verge of Thanksgiving and the obviously important shopping season leading up to the holidays, and that would create enormous uncertainty for our economy… We don’t think that’s the right way to go”.
The Democratic-controlled Senate is set to vote on Saturday on a 15-month extension of the debt ceiling, which would remove the issue from next year’s congressional campaigns.
