Senate leaders began negotiations Saturday aimed at reopening federal agencies and avoiding a government default after every other effort to end Congress' impasse crumbled in the previous 48 hours.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took over the talks, which had led nowhere in recent days. House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged early Saturday that his discussions with President Barack Obama had collapsed and that the Senate was the last hope to avert a financial disaster.

During the fiscal crises that have gripped Capitol Hill over the past five years, each resolution and compromise came after Senate leaders picked up the pieces of failed efforts between the White House and the House of Representatives.