White House staff holds Twitter 'Office Hours'

As Washington feels the heat of the debt-ceiling battle, White House staff is taking to Twitter to answer questions.

The White House is calling it "Office Hours," and the first one was held on Tuesday, featuring Brian Deese, deputy director of the National Economic Council. Most questions were focused on the ongoing debt-ceiling debate, though one participant asked about the Federal Aviation Administration partial shutdown.

More sessions are planned this week with either Deese or NEC Principal Deputy Director Jason Furman. The next session is planned for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, hosted once again by Deese.

Similar to President Obama's Twitter town hall, participants can ask a question by including a hashtag with their tweets: #WHChat. Replies to questions will come from the @whitehouse Twitter account.

After each session, the White House will post a "transcript" of the chat on its blog.