Talks appear to be intensifying on Capitol Hill on reaching a deal on long-overdue legislation to finance the government through the end of September - and avoid a government shutdown. Whether a shutdown can be avoided in three days' time is another matter.

A White House meeting Tuesday between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders failed to produce a hoped-for breakthrough, however, and a stopgap government funding bill is set to expire Friday at midnight.

Obama ratcheted up the pressure afterward, sounding exasperated with Republicans for not warming to a White House proposal that matched, more or less, an earlier GOP framework proposed in February.

Talks between GOP House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid resumed at the Capitol later Tuesday.