There was a meeting at the White House late last night attended by Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Boehner, but this morning, there’s still no deal. From The Hill:

No agreement was reached during the 90-minute Oval Office meeting, but all three said some progress has been made. “We’ve narrowed the issues significantly,” Reid said, speaking from outside the White House. “I have confidence we can get this done. We’re not there yet, but hope lies eternal.” Boehner, appearing with Reid, said the negotiations were productive, but said, “There is no agreement on a number, and there is no agreement on the policy riders.” “There is no reason why we should not be able to complete a deal,” Obama said in a brief post-negotiation appearance in the White House briefing room, where he was accompanied by senior staff and Vice President Biden.

Oh, there is a reason. It’s not a rational reason. It’s driven by the politics of the GOP. The Teabaggers run the show. Yesterday, the Speaker confirmed to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that he is the Tea Party’s puppet:

Speaker of the House John Boehner said he is in lockstep with the Tea Party on budget negotiations despite claims from Democrats that there could be a deal if only he could buck the Tea Party. “Listen, there’s no daylight between the Tea Party and me,” Boehner told me today during our exclusive interview. “None?” I asked “None. What they want is they want us to cut spending. They want us to deal with this crushing debt that’s going to crush the future for our kids and grandkids. There’s no daylight there,” he said.

That’s why there’s no deal. Boehner fears the Teabaggers.

It should be a wild day here in DC. I suspect we’ll hear a lot of rumors and can expect a lot of breathless reporting from the cable correspondents who are covering this story. For example, on CNN, Senior Political Editor Mark Preston just showed one of his network’s “command centers” for the shutdown.