President Obama met with House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday to discuss the budget Talks are intensifying on Capitol Hill as congressional negotiators attempt to reach an agreement over federal spending cuts in order to avoid a looming government shutdown.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday “a glimmer of hope” existed following late-night talks.
But without a budget deal, parts of the US government will shut down on Friday.
The White House said President Barack Obama could hold a second meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.
House Speaker John Boehner and Mr Obama met on Tuesday in an effort to craft a budget deal that could cut $33bn (£20bn) from this year’s budget against last year’s spending levels and ensure the government does not shut down when the most recent stop-gap measure expires at midnight on Friday.
In remarks after that meeting, Mr Obama said his administration and House Republicans were closer than they had ever been to coming to an agreement.
The White House was said on Wednesday morning to be assessing any progress lawmakers made during late-night talks between Senate Democrats and House Republicans before holding a second meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Schumer, the Senate’s number three Democrat, told US media on Wednesday morning that “some progress was made” in negotiations with House Republicans on Tuesday.
“We’ve met the other side more than half way” at $33bn (£20bn) in proposed cuts, he added.
Negotiations have stalled over legislation to fund the day-to-day operations of US federal agencies to the end of the fiscal year on 30 September.
Republicans, urged on by the anti-government Tea Party movement, are calling for far greater spending cuts than Democrats are willing to concede.
Meanwhile, Democrats have accused Republicans of linking social policy agendas to the bill, and say the size of the cuts Republicans demand would hinder the nascent US economic recovery.
Mr Obama is scheduled to head to the state of Pennsylvania for a town hall meeting on energy security on Wednesday at 1230 local time (1730GMT).
But a meeting with “Congressional leaders on the budget is still possible,” White House spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said in a message on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.