Democrats say Obama rejected Republican arguments on government shutdown in meeting

Reuters
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (C) hitches up his belt during a news conference with Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) (L) and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, October 2, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama rejected Republican entreaties to negotiate over his healthcare law on Wednesday as a condition for their agreement to approve legislation that would end a government shutdown, Democratic leaders said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from more than an hour of talks with Obama, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican and other congressional leaders to say Obama told Republicans "he will not stand" for their tactics. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Obama will not invoke a clause in the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a way to lift the U.S. debt ceiling on his own. The United States will run out of cash to pay its bills by October 17 if the debt ceiling is not raised. "He's not going to" invoke the 14th amendment, she told reporters. (Reporting By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Stacey Joyce)