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By: Janet Hook 

With traditional avenues for negotiating budget deals collapsing on Capitol Hill, the White House is reaching out to a band of Senate Republicans who are mostly newcomers to the worn trenches of fiscal warfare.

The group of eight Republicans has been meeting regularly with senior White House officials to hash over major fiscal issues as fall deadlines rapidly approach, including four times in the two weeks before Congress began its August recess.

The group runs the gamut from former presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) to a freshman tea-party ally, Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), but is notably lacking in top-ranking party officials and budget experts who have been regular fixtures of past fiscal confrontations.

The group's importance reflects a White House strategy to look first for Republican allies in the Senate, as with immigration. But it has also emerged because most of the White House's past GOP negotiating partners have taken a step back.

These days, the meetings seem to be the only place where the fall's impending fiscal deadlines are even being broached and might be the one place from which a compromise could emerge.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has said he doesn't want to negotiate again over a "grand bargain" with the president. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), facing a tough re-election challenge, has shied away from the role of dealmaker-in-chief. Budget committee leaders haven't met to negotiate a resolution. And Congress's routine spending process—passing appropriations to fund the government—has stalled.

The chaos has left lawmakers befuddled about how Congress will navigate the coming fiscal crises, including financing the government after Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, and raising the debt limit later this fall.

Speaking of the group, Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), one of the eight, said: "This could turn out to be an effort that leads nowhere, but I don't know how any senator who has an opportunity to shape this who would not take advantage."

White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said, "We're hopeful that these discussions will help identify potential areas of compromise so Congress can act to prevent any self-inflicted economic wounds as the fall fiscal deadlines approach."

Many are skeptical this group can midwife a compromise. There are no signs their many meetings so far have narrowed differences. Democrats haven't budged from their insistence on including tax increases, which Republicans just as adamantly oppose.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D., Wash.) said she doubts this group can accomplish much without the blessing of GOP leaders. "My question is who has the clout to sit down with me and bring votes with them?'' Ms. Murray asked.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.), an organizer of the group, said it is designed to be a "sounding board," not a negotiating team. He said Mr. McConnell is kept apprised of the group's meetings.

The group has its roots in the private dinners President Barack Obama held earlier this year with 24 Senate Republicans, assembled by Mr. Isakson and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). The group kept meeting and last month winnowed the number of Republican participants to eight to make discussions with White House officials more manageable.

The result was a group nicknamed the "Diners' Club" that is ideologically diverse and short on budget-policy expertise—but long on lawmakers who Democrats hope might sign onto a deal.

Mr. McCain has helped broker deals with Democrats in the Senate in recent months, most recently on breaking a deadlock over confirmation of executive-branch nominations. Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire is pushing hard to protect the Pentagon budget, along with Sens. McCain and Graham.

Sen. Dan Coats (R., Ind.) and Mr. Johnson, the Wisconsin senator, bring more-conservative voices to the group. Mr. Coats, elected in 2010, has a longer view of budget problems because he previously served in the Senate from 1989 to 1999 and in the House in the 1980s. Mr. Johnson, a newcomer and tea-party ally, has a business background and has tried to cultivate ties with House Republicans, a valuable link if a budget deal emerges.

In meetings before the August recess, the group discussed the idea of replacing the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with cuts in Medicare and other mandatory-spending programs. White House aides rejected the idea, insisting that any deficit-reduction plan of that magnitude must include tax increases, according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Against that backdrop, members of the GOP group say they have shifted their attention to a broader, long-term plan to reduce the deficit. But that puts them back at the big drawing board that has foiled the efforts of many before them.

"We have seen this movie multiple times before, but that doesn't dissuade me," said Mr. Corker.