offering any room for negotiation, wasn't budging at all but towards the very end of the news conference, the president said not only is he willing to accept a short-term increase in the nation's debt ceiling, that would give both sides some room to hammer out a future compromise. but he also said that house republicans could attach to legislation that reopens the government and raises the nation's debt ceiling some kind of mandatory committee process that would bind democrats and republicans together to hammer out some of these big disagreements that exist over the budget and the debt ceiling. but the president said that that would have to happen after the government is reopened, and after the debt ceiling is raised. i talked to a white house official who said don't overinterpret all of this. the president is not offering new concessions in order to get those things passed. but want to go back to what the president said earlier today, because it was the smallest of peace offerings to republicans. >> if there's a way to solve this, it has to include reopening the government and saying america's not going to