WASHINGTON (AP) — Even as the government reopened its doors, congressional budget negotiators met Thursday and acknowledged that their search for agreements on deficit reduction and spending cuts has no assurance of achieving their goals.

"Talking doesn't guarantee success," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, after he and Congress' three other top budget writers held a breakfast meeting to discuss their upcoming two months of budget talks. "But if you don't get together, obviously you don't move forward."

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the group's goal was "to get this debt under control, to do smart deficit reduction, and to do things that we think will grow the economy and get people back to work."

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