Obama meets Democratic senators to find fiscal deal

US President Barack Obama on Saturday afternoon is meeting Democratic senators in a bid to find a fiscal deal as the first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years drags on into its 12th day and the negotiation between the White House and House Republicans stalled. In a hastily arranged meeting, Obama, a Democrat, will meet with Senate Democrats in the White House to discuss a way out of the fiscal deadlock, the White House said on Saturday. Earlier Saturday, Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, to extend the government's borrowing authority through the end of 2014 without other conditions attached, a so-called "clean debt limit" bill. In a 53-45 vote, the upper chamber failed to win the 60 votes necessary to advance the bill to a floor debate. The Senate bill aimed at increasing the federal debt by about 1 trillion U.S. dollars. Republicans intended to tie fiscal reform conditions to any bill to increase the government's borrowing authority. Obama Thursday met with House Republican leaders at the White House and Friday spoke by telephone with U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican lawmaker. However, no final deal has been reached yet. The negotiation focus has now shifted to the Democratic-led Senate.