Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shown center, summons GOP senators to a closed-door meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013. Sen. McConnell and his Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., are optimistic about forging an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced GOP leaders to drop efforts to ram their own version through the House.
J. Applewhite Associated Press