Government Executive - Authors - Humberto Sanchez

Biden talks intensify; Gang of Six considers options

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

As the budget talks led by Vice President Joe Biden continue this week, the seemingly defunct Gang of Six is exploring whether to continue its work, disband or seek a lifeline from other senators.

The Gang of Six, which is working on a comprehensive deficit reduction plan based on recommendations from President Obama's deficit commission, is seeking a way to remain relevant despite the likelihood that they will not take substantive action ahead of an agreement from the Biden group.

The group was dealt a blow in May when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he would take a break from the talks after clashing with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., over Coburn's efforts to seek more savings from Medicare than recommended by the president's commission. The group has been redubbed by some as "Five Guys."

Without Coburn the remaining Republican members are unwilling to negotiate toward a potential deal, according to gang members and their staff.

One possible way forward would be a letter of support signed by a significant number of Democratic and Republican senators that would give cover to the remaining GOP gang members to continue to negotiate. The letter would be similar to one signed by 64 senators in March. The remaining members of the group have briefed over 20 senators in recent week.

An aide familiar with the talks said members will discuss if "we need a proposal with a bow on it to get to a letter, or do we need a show of hands for releasing" an outline of the proposal the group was close to agreeing to before Coburn's exit.

But the group's options are limited. Both Reid and McConnell have asked their members not to endorse any deficit reduction plan before the Biden talks conclude.

"There is a level of paralysis," said a senior staffer tracking the gang talks. "Stalemate, stalemate, stalemate."

Meanwhile, the group of six lawmakers led by Biden embarks on another round of intense meetings this week beginning Tuesday afternoon, as it looks to make big strides on a deficit reduction package that can pass Congress and win votes to raise the debt ceiling.

Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons, and come after the group met three times last week and set a deadline of July 1 to reach an agreement in principle.

Congressional leaders are pushing the group to do so well ahead of August 2 when the Treasury Department has said it would exhaust its borrowing authority.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said that he believes the group should work through any congressional recesses to help bring about a deal more quickly. The House is on recess next week, while the Senate will be in session.

Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over including taxes in the plan. Republicans oppose raising taxes as a way to reduce the deficit and are more focused on limiting spending. Democrats, who are in agreement on including spending cuts, also want tax increases, such as closing special interest loopholes.

The White House would not say whether it would accept a short-term debt ceiling increase as a stopgap measure if the Biden talks fail. The idea was floated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on CBS's Face the Nation this weekend.

"I don't want to negotiate the resolution to the debt ceiling vote from here," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Monday.

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Biden deficit group gives itself July 1 deadline

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Six lawmakers led by Vice President Joe Biden and charged with developing a deficit-reduction plan met for the third time this week and agreed on Thursday to give themselves until July 1 to come up with an agreement or decide not to continue. Whether or not to raise taxes remained a key sticking point.

"The idea is that we would either reach an agreement in principle by then or recognize that we are not able to bridge our differences," House Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the group, said on his way out of the meeting.

While few observers believe the negotiators can cut a deal by July 1, the talks are ramping up with the clear intention at making progress before then.

Biden said staff will be working "around the clock" next week.

He also said Democrats have made it clear they will consider GOP-favored cuts if Republicans will agree to some revenue increases. If Republicans can agree on revenue, a priority for Democrats, he said, "We are prepared to agree to some of the things you want in discretionary spending."

The group appears to have agreed on noncontroversial parts of the budget, but those parts are contingent on agreement on more divisive areas, Van Hollen and Biden said.

The group is set to meet three times again next week, but for three hours instead of two. And Biden said the group might meet four times. The deficit-reduction plan is needed in order to win enough congressional support to raise the debt ceiling by August 2, when the Treasury Department said it would exhaust its borrowing authority.

Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over including taxes in the plan. Republicans oppose raising taxes as a way to reduce the deficit and are more focused on limiting spending. But Democrats, who are in agreement on including spending cuts, also want tax increases, like closing special-interest tax loopholes, to be part of a deficit-reduction package.

Van Hollen said the focus of Thursday's meeting was non-health mandatory programs, such as farm subsidies.

"Today we spent a lot of time refining ideas for saving funds; it wasn't necessarily a huge amount of dollar savings on every one thing, but the details are important when you are making policy changes," Van Hollen said. "We have a long way to go here before we resolve the toughest issues."

Van Hollen added: "We've made progress on [looking for savings in non-health mandatory programs], but any progress on that is contingent on resolving other issues down the road."

Biden said there are differences that are going to "be bridged, it won't occur until the end." He said negotiators "have gone through all the discrete elements of the budget and we've said 'OK if we have an agreement on everything, we agree on this piece.' "

"The really tough stuff are the big ticket items, and philosophically big-ticket items," Biden added, citing as an example health care-related spending. "If we can get an agreement on military, we are prepared to do more."

He said both sides are informing the other of the political issues they face. "We understand Republican pressures," Biden said. "They understand Democratic pressures."

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Senate will hold a pro-forma session next week, preventing recess appointments

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 27 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate will remain in pro-forma session next week, a step that will prevent President Obama from making any recess appointments during the Memorial Day break, including a much-anticipated potential appointment of Elizabeth Warren as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spokesman Jon Summers said the pro-forma session will occur because Republicans refused to agree to allow the Senate to adjourn, which is normally done by unanimous consent. Summers said Democrats, regardless, were not expecting recess appointments.

All 47 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote to Reid on Thursday urging him to postpone the week-long Memorial Day recess until Democrats put forward a fiscal 2012 budget plan. Democrats have delayed releasing a budget until deficit-reduction talks led by Vice President Joe Biden run their course. Republicans charge that Democrats have shirked their responsibility to set legislative priorities and draft a plan. The House passed its budget last month.

Senate Budget ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., was the first Republican this week to threaten to object to adjourning without a budget.

Senate GOP leadership aides have previously noted they lack the power to prevent adjournment, saying Democrats can force an adjournment by a majority vote. Several conservative senators this week asked House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to use a rarely tapped power to prevent the Senate from recessing for more than a few days, thus blocking any appointments. Aides to Boehner and McConnell were considering the request, spokesman for both said Thursday.

"President Obama has been packing federal agencies with left-wing ideologues, but thankfully he won't be able to for at least the next week," Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who signed the letter to Boehner, said in a statement on Thursday.

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Jury still out on deficit-reduction group

Humberto Sanchez — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

"What I see is a group that probably hasn't been picked for its ability to come together and hash out a serious, viable plan," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

MacGuineas's comments came after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday appointed House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., respectively, to represent them in deficit-reduction negotiations that President Obama called for last week.

Obama asked congressional leaders from both parties to name up to four lawmakers as negotiators. But Republican leaders -- who have been skeptical that the Biden group would yield results -- named just one apiece.

Democrats named just two each. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tapped Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has named Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

Obama charged Biden with leading the bipartisan talks and is pushing the participants to develop a plan by the end of June. The first group meeting is scheduled for May 5.

"I am not really sure how [the Biden group] plays into it; I think we will have to see," MacGuineas said. "I think when you get a bunch of people around the table who want to come up with a deal, it is far more likely to succeed than a bunch of people where it is not as clear that they would be able to come to an agreement."

MacGuineas was alluding to the Gang of Six, which consists of Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Kent Conrad, D-N.D., Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.; and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. The group has been working on producing a compromise plan modeled on recommendations put forward in December by the commission that Obama established, led by Erskine Bowles and former Sen. Alan Simpson. The group, which also included the six senators, recommended spending cuts along with reform of the tax code and entitlement programs.

It is unclear when the gang will be ready to unveil its legislation, or if it will be part of the Senate's fiscal 2012 budget resolution that Conrad, the Budget Committee chairman, has been considering. Conrad is expected to produce a resolution after the spring recess.

"I still think we have to see what the Gang of Six does," MacGuineas said. "I think there is a natural progression: There was a presidentially appointed commission; it came up with a plan that was seen as solid. A group of senators took it upon themselves to move that forward. The president then elevated the issue to a top-tier issue, which you only can do from the bully pulpit, and now we have to see how the group that he's appointed -- or in my mind, more likely the Gang of Six -- proceeds and what kind of momentum is built around that."

Ryan McConaghy, deputy director of the economic program at the centrist think tank Third Way, believes that the gang could help the Biden group get an agreement on deficit reduction, but only time will tell.

"The Gang of Six continues to be the bipartisan game in town. They have had meetings, and they are inching closer to potentially coming out with something," McConaghy said. "I think that this [Biden] group and the Gang of Six will probably work on parallel tracks. They may end up reinforcing each other's work."

McConaghy also noted that the Biden group was useful because it puts a deadline on the talks at the end of June, which could also put a deadline on the Gang.

"I think the main thing about this group is that the president has set a date certain on when he wants to see something done." McConaghy said. "In politics, just like anything else, deadline pressure hopefully creates real results."

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Geithner: Two plans hold basis for deficit agreement

Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Squawk Box. "Now, we disagree on how to do that, and we're not going to resolve all those disagreements in the next couple of months," Geithner added. "But what we can do is lock in some clear targets for deficit reduction, for savings, with a credible enforcement mechanism that'll force Washington to live within its means." Geithner's comments came after the House last week approved a GOP-drafted fiscal 2012 budget resolution that cuts $5.8 trillion from current spending levels over 10 years and restructures Medicare and Medicaid. The spending plan would also make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all taxpayers. Overall, the GOP budget would reduce the deficit by $4.4 trillion over 10 years. President Obama last week outlined a deficit-reduction plan that would include cuts to non-security discretionary spending-similar to what was suggested by his deficit commission-of $200 billion over 10 years on top of the spending freeze he recommended in his fiscal 2012 budget proposal in February. Obama also wants to let the tax cuts expire for upper-income earners, but he supports ending tax expenditures to lower tax rates and the deficit. Overall, the plan would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 12 years. Obama was in Northern Virginia on Tuesday selling his ideas on deficit reduction to the public. He will be in Palo Alto, Calif., on Wednesday and Reno, Nev., on Thursday. Obama's plan also includes what he calls a "fail-safe," which would mean automatic spending cuts if the deficit doesn't meet certain targets over the next several years. Agreement on deficit-cutting targets could also ease the way for passage of legislation to increase the debt ceiling, which Treasury has said must be passed as soon as the middle of May. Democrats want to keep action on deficit reduction separate from the debt-limit bill, but Republicans want to put significant spending cuts in place as a condition of raising the debt ceiling. "The Congress is going to pass an increase in the debt ceiling." Geithner said. "They recognize that. They know they have to do that. They've always done that. That's not really the issue." "The real challenge is to make sure we put in place... multiyear targets that put the deficit on a path that declines over time so that the debt burden starts to decline as a share of the economy," Geithner added. "That's the economic imperative. That's the important thing to do." It's not clear that deficit targets would be enough for Republicans, who have not publicly specified what they would need to back an increase of the debt ceiling. However, GOP leaders have come out strongly against raising taxes-even allowing current tax cuts to expire for upper-income earners-as a way to reduce the deficit. Geithner said he has been in recent contact with some lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and House Budget Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., but did not provide any details. "Look, both sides understand that if we're going to do this, we have to do it together. It's going to take Republicans and Democrats," Geithner said. "And again, you know, I talk to Republicans on the Hill a lot. I spoke to Congressman Ryan yesterday. I spoke to Tom Coburn, the senator, last Friday." But Republicans have been critical of Obama's deficit plan, and last week the 11 GOP members of the Senate Budget Committee wrote asking him to submit a new budget by May 15. "The president continues to request dramatic spending increases for next year in the only formal budget submission we have received," Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said in a release Tuesday. "I hope the president will work with lawmakers to dramatically reduce federal spending." ]]>

House passes budget resolution with pay, benefits cuts

Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The document also calls for a federal pay freeze through 2015 and an attrition policy that permits the government to hire only one new employee for every three workers who retire. The resolution estimates that by 2014, the hiring reform will produce a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce. In addition, the plan recommends requiring federal employees to pay for half the defined benefit they receive with their pensions at retirement, an increase from the current contribution of 0.8 percent of payroll.

National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley criticized the plan. "Apart from the broad social changes the resolution seeks to make, its anti-federal employee provisions would result in federal agencies having great difficulty not only in retaining the highly skilled, dedicated employees they now have, but in recruiting new talent to the government," she said in a statement.

While the budget resolution as passed has little chance of becoming law, it will serve as a starting point of another round of the budget brawls that have dominated Washington and national politics in recent months.

The spending plan passed on a nearly party-line vote, 235-193. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has said he wants to move the Senate's budget resolution after the upcoming two-week Spring recess.

If the Senate approves a budget resolution, Conrad and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will try to reconcile differences.

However, given that Republicans control the House and Democrats the Senate, chances that agreement can be reached on a single spending plan are slim. The plan comes as the nation's budget deficit is expected to remain historically high, above $1 trillion for the current and next fiscal year.

During the 2010 midterm election, Republicans campaigned on cutting spending and reducing the deficit. Their victories gave them control of the House and increased their number in the Senate. The House's fiscal 2012 spending proposal reflects their efforts to keep those promises to cut spending, which they also believe is good politics.

One area where Republicans are looking for savings is within entitlement programs. Under the plan, Medicare would be changed to a defined-contribution voucher plan, while Medicaid would shift to a block grant system.

"The American people understand that we can't spend money we do not have," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner said earlier that over the two-week spring recess, he expects GOP lawmakers to educate constituents to combat claims by Democrats that the proposals would hurt seniors and the poor. He noted that any changes, which would go into effect in 2022, would not affect those 55 and older.

"I think it's important for our members to go home and talk about it, the crisis that we face, and the fact that the changes we propose would not affect one senior citizen in America because Paul has made it perfectly clear that anyone who is 55 and older would not be affected by any of those changes."

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., stood with seniors at a press conference to oppose the GOP budget. She said the plan would force seniors to pay "twice as much for less coverage" and would raise prescription drug costs, points she echoed in remarks on the floor to conclude Democrats' floor time.

A Democratic alternative failed, 259-166. The House also rejected a Republican Study Committee proposal, 136-119, with 172 Democrats voting "present" in a gambit to try to lower the threshold for passage and complicate adoption of the GOP plan.

During debate, nine protesters were removed from the House chamber. One by one, the protesters, mostly young men and women, would stand up and ad lib lyrics to the "Star Spangled Banner" and to "We Shall Overcome." It was hard to pick up on what they subbed in for lyrics, but outside the chamber, where the protesters were taken and arrested by Capitol Police, one hinted that the message was environmental. While being handcuffed with zip cuffs, one protester said, "we just want our government to protect our earth and our future."

Kellie Lunney contributed to this report.

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Loud opposition unlikely to scuttle budget deal

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Staffers with the House and Senate Appropriations committees worked through the weekend and Monday to finalize details of the spending cuts that will be included in the six-month spending bill that negotiators agreed to on Friday.

The deal will cut $38.5 billion from current spending levels, slicing $6.8 billion from labor, health, and education programs, as well as a host of other programs funded by mandatory spending, according to a list of the cuts obtained by National Journal Daily.

Programs funded by mandatory spending receive their funds automatically without the year-to-year input of appropriators.

During negotiations, Democrats pushed for cuts to mandatory spending to protect programs funded every year by Congress.

Democrats managed to win almost $18 billion in mandatory cuts. That marked a victory for them that made the $38 billion package significantly different than one Republicans would have offered on their own, and less damaging to economic growth, Democrats claim. The changes in mandatory programs, also known as "CHIMPS," make the deal more palatable to Democratic lawmakers, Democratic senators have argued.

During negotiations, Republicans argued that CHIMPS were a "smoke and mirrors" effort by Democrats to put off having to make hard choices on discretionary spending cuts, which would lower the spending baseline for years to come.

The $6.8 billion in labor, health, and education programs include $3.5 billion from performance bonuses paid to states for enrolling uninsured children in Medicaid under the 2009 Children's Health Insurance Program reauthorization.

Another $2.5 billion would come from funds for health care cooperatives. Cutting Pell grants during the summer would save $493 million.

Reductions to programs within the departments of Commerce and Justice would save $5.6 billion, including $4.9 billion from DOJ's crime victims' fund, $495 million from the DOJ's assets forfeiture fund, and $68 million from a Commerce program to promote and develop fisheries transfers.

Cuts to Transportation and Housing and Urban Development programs would provide a total of $3.2 billion in savings, which come from $2.5 billion from transportation earmarks and $630 million from highway funding.

Agriculture programs took a $1.5 billion haircut, including $350 million from the environmental quality incentives program, $207 million from rural economic development grants, and $176 million from the wetlands reserve program.

The crop insurance rebate program was cut by $35 million and the food stamps, employment, and training programs were reduced by $15 million.

The Treasury Department's forfeiture fund was cut by $400 million, while $89 million would be cut from Interior and Environment accounts, including $42 million from the mineral leasing and associated payments, and $30 million from National Park Service land acquisition and state assistance.

The Senate will vote after the House's scheduled Wednesday vote. With little more than a day to vote before the current CR expires, the Senate will likely need a consent deal to schedule the vote. That means any one senator could scuttle the deal. The cloture process would take several days, meaning another potential shutdown would loom.

But Senate leadership aides in both parties said that while some senators will vote against the deal, leaders do not anticipate filibuster efforts that will delay a vote.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Monday that he will "vote a resounding 'no' this week to this so-called deal."

"This discussion is simply not credible or serious, and unfortunately, it has not been from the beginning, as the House leadership has made clear," Paul wrote in a letter to colleagues on Monday.

"I prefer to be on the other side," he said. "The side of the people who sent us here to Washington to do something. To cut spending. To save our economy. To move toward a balanced budget."

Paul, however, did not threaten to slow action on the bill.

In addition to Paul, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah; Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and James Risch, R-Idaho, are among potential "no" votes. In a voice-vote early Saturday on approval of the six-day "bridge" bill, Risch, who expressed support for policy riders excluded from the six-month-bill, shouted a "no" vote, the only lawmaker to do so.

A Republican leadership aide who requested anonymity to discuss conference politics said slowing down the process would give opponents "the wrong kind of attention. You would be the one guy who is shutting down government."

The compromise came after intense negotiations among House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and President Obama.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., outlined his support for the compromise in a speech on Friday night. His support, coupled with Reid's, nearly ensures the bill will gain 60 votes in the Senate.

The deal amounts to about a $78 billion cut from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal, and some conservatives have said that they are disappointed with the deal because it falls short of a campaign promise most House GOP members made to cut $100 billion from Obama's fiscal 2011 request. Still, the leadership line was that this was the best deal the GOP was going to get.

"Republicans fought for-and won-substantial, real savings, both mandatory and discretionary, from the Democrats who run Washington-who initially proposed a 'freeze' and labeled any cuts at all 'extreme,' " said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner. "Did we want more cuts to help our economy create jobs? Of course."

Speaking on Fox News on Monday, Boehner said that "This isn't perfect. It isn't everything I wanted, by a long shot."

But he added that "it was the first big step forward … The first step in what is going to be a lot of steps if we are going to fix our fiscal crisis in Washington."

He said he expects to get some of the votes of conservatives in his conference, but "others we won't." The bill may need some Democratic votes to reach the 218 needed to pass. But it is not clear if GOP leadership will lose a major chunk of their conference. Only 28 of the 241 House Republican members voted against the six-day bridge bill early on Saturday morning.

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What's in the spending bill?

Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

After a marathon four-day bill drafting session, the House Appropriations Committee early Tuesday morning unveiled compromise legislation to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year and cut $38.5 billion from current spending levels.

House Republican leaders struck a deal with Senate Democrats and the White House late Friday after pushing to cut $61 billion from current spending levels. GOP leaders hope to put the bill on the floor Wednesday, with Senate action expected Thursday. The current stopgap funding measure expires Friday.

Overall, labor, health, and education programs received a $5.5 billion cut from last fiscal year's level, including the cancellation of 55 programs for savings of more than $1 billion. The final legislation prevents 218,000 low-income children from being removed from Head Start and rejects education grant funding that would have cost approximately 10,000 jobs and reduced educational services to 1 million students, according to Senate Appropriations Committee summary.

Here's where the spending cuts (and, in the case of Defense, the increases) come from:

TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING. These programs would receive the largest cut under the compromise, $12.3 billion from fiscal 2010 levels, including a total of $2.9 billion in cuts for high-speed rail, $991 million in cuts to transit programs, and a $3.2 billion rescission of highway funding, including $630 million worth of old earmarks. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's community development fund would get a $942 million cut.
SCIENCE. The continuing resolution also blocks funding for the establishment of a Climate Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; for the approval of new fisheries catch-share programs in certain fisheries; and for NASA and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to engage in bilateral activities with China.
AGRICULTURE. Agriculture programs would see $3 billion in cuts from fiscal 2010, including a $10 million cut to food and safety inspection, but the plan allows "for uninterrupted meat, poultry, and egg products inspection activities of the" Agriculture Department, the committee said. The USDA's Special Supplemental Feeding Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, received $6.75 billion, which is a $504 million cut from the fiscal 2010 level.
ENERGY. Energy and water programs were reduced by a relatively modest $1.7 billion. The bill funds the Army Corps of Engineers at the president's request level of $4.9 billion and supports existing applications for renewable energy loan guarantees at the Department of Energy.
WASHINGTON, D.C. The compromise restores a long-standing provision against the use of federal and local funds for abortions in the District of Columbia, and includes the reauthorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships, along with a $2.3 million funding increase, to stop the termination of the program and allow new students to participate.
HOMELAND SECURITY. A $784 million net reduction over last year, including a $786 million cut to Federal Emergency Management Agency first-responder grants and elimination of $264 million in funding that was previously targeted to earmarks.
DEFENSE. Funded at $513 billion in the CR, about $5 billion above last year. The bill also includes an additional $157.8 billion for overseas contingency operations (emergency funding).

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Budget deal faces one last hurdle

Dan Friedman, Billy House, and Humberto Sanchez — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

All the sighs of relief that followed last week's deal to keep the government open will do little to alter the reality that once again lawmakers have to act before a deadline -- on Thursday -- to avert a government shutdown this week.

The hand-shake deal cut Friday night to fund the government through October is expected to clear both chambers, before the "bridge" continuing resolution, passed late Friday to provide time for the passage of the six-month bill, expires. But there are no guarantees.

There are enough House conservatives poised to oppose the deal to cause House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at least some discomfort. A vote is scheduled for Wednesday. In the Senate, backing from the leadership of both parties leaves little question the measure will have enough votes, but time could become an issue if any member chooses to object and delay action.

Congress is scheduled to begin a two-week spring recess after members complete their work this week; lawmakers expect to head home Thursday night.

Details of the compromise measure will be published on Monday, Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday.

But those specifics had not been finalized Sunday afternoon, leaving most lawmakers and the public with only a general picture of the deal's content.

"They're still sifting through the areas where they are going to make cuts," House Budget ranking member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said on ABC's This Week. "You can't find anybody today, actually, who knows exactly what cuts we're proposing until probably the end of the day today."

Lawmakers have said the bill will cut $38.5 billion in spending from current levels-though Senate Democrats have suggested the figure is below $38 billion. That includes $3 billion in reductions to the Defense Department. There are $17.8 billion in reductions in mandatory spending, according to Senate Democratic leadership aides. Altogether, it amounts to $78 billion in cuts from President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal.

Congress will work to wrap up that fight right as it leaps into another heated debate over longer-term deficit reduction.

The House is expected to start floor action this week on a fiscal 2012 budget plan offered by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. At the same time, Obama is set to outline his own plan for deficit reduction, White House adviser David Plouffe said Sunday.

Following the scheduled Wednesday vote on the fiscal 2011 six-month bill, House leaders have scheduled initial floor debate on Ryan's fiscal 2012 budget, with a vote on passage by Friday. This will shift the focus in the ongoing spending battle to next year's budget.

Congressional attention is also turning to a fight over raising the nation's debt limit, with votes expected in May. That vote is sure to be linked to efforts to hold down spending. Republicans, and some Democrats, are expected to try to attach spending-cut measures, such as a balanced budget amendment backed by all Senate Republicans, to debt ceiling legislation.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on "Fox News Sunday" that Republicans will not support raising the nation's debt ceiling without "guaranteed steps being put into place to ensure spending doesn't get out of control again."

But before they do that, lawmakers must first pass the compromise agreed to on Friday.

In the House, conservative discontent with that six-month spending deal could require the support of some House Democrats to get to the 218 votes needed to pass the bill. But it is not clear GOP leadership will lose a major chunk of their Conference. Only 28 of the 241 House Republican members voted against the six-day bridge bill early on Saturday morning.

Vocal conservative opposition to the measure looks more likely to be a political problem for Boehner, rather than a threat to passage.

"I share the disappointment of my colleagues," said House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, on CNN's State of the Union.

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said Sunday he would oppose the bill, despite praising Boehner. And tea party darling Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., ripped the measure as "a disappointment for me and millions of Americans who expected $100 billion in cuts, who wanted to make sure their tax dollars stopped flowing to the nation's largest abortion provider, and who wanted us to defund 'Obamacare.' "

Over the weekend, one national tea party group, the Tea Party Patriots, characterized the deal in an e-mail sent out to supporters as a "Hollow Victory," with inadequate cuts.

In the Senate, the support of Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., means the majority of both parties will likely back the six-month bill. But opposition could come from both liberals and conservatives.

Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and James Risch, R-Idaho, are potential "no" votes. In a voice-vote early Saturday on approval of the six-day "bridge" bill, Risch, who expressed support for policy riders excluded from the six-month-bill, shouted a "no" vote, the only lawmaker to do so.

Timing, not votes, will be the challenge in the Senate. Assuming the Senate acts after the House, the chamber will have little more than a day to pass the measure. That leaves no time for the cloture process, meaning the chamber will need consent from all 100 lawmakers to schedule the vote. Pressure from Reid and McConnell, along with the lure of the debt-ceiling and fiscal 2012 budget fights, makes a filibuster that causes the Senate to miss the deadline unlikely. But last-minute haggling is possible.

The Senate is expected to vote this week on a bill to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and a proposal to block funding for implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Democratic negotiators agreed to those votes in exchange for Republicans dropping their demand for inclusion of the Planned Parenthood language or related policy riders in the fiscal 2011 deal.

The votes have political but not legislative import. Both measures up for votes have previously passed the House, but lack support to reach 60-vote thresholds established as part of the deal in the Senate.

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GOP passes futile one-week spending measure

Dan Friedman, Billy House, and Humberto Sanchez — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

With an eye to protecting themselves politically in case of a government shutdown, House Republicans passed legislation on Thursday that would fund the federal government for another week and pay for the Department of Defense through the rest of the fiscal year.

But the bill, which passed the House 247 to 181, appears dead on arrival in the Senate as the White House has threatened to veto the measure. Passage of the bill would allow House Republicans to blame Senate Democrats for not passing the measure if there is a government shutdown midnight Friday.

"Now I think we all know that no one wants a shutdown and there is absolutely no policy reason for the Senate not to follow the House in taking these responsible steps to support our troops and keep the government open," said House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Republicans say the week-long bill cuts $12 billion from current levels, but critics say it in fact cuts only $4.4 billion versus fiscal 2010 spending. That's because the bill cuts $12 billion overall but adds $7.6 billion to the Pentagon budget, Steve Ellis, vice president of the nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense, noted in a statement Thursday.

"While answering our constituents' calls to reduce excessive government spending, this bill provides time to negotiate in an honest way to do what is not only right for our constituents, our nation, and our financial future," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky. "Let's pass this bill, and finally get this leftover work from last year behind us."

The current short-term funding measure expires at midnight Friday. Failure to pass any extension by then would lead to a government shutdown. House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House have been negotiating intensely to try to come to a compromise and avoid that outcome.

Rogers said the cuts have been part of negotiations and agreed to by Democrats. The bill also includes a ban on using federal funds for abortion in the District of Columbia, which Republicans argue was the law until recently.

But the White House said the GOP's move, which would be the seventh short-term extension since the end of the last fiscal year, was not productive towards finding a deal for the remainder of the fiscal year.

"After giving the Congress more time by signing short-term extensions into law, the president believes that we need to put politics aside and work out our differences for a bill that covers the rest of the fiscal year," the White House said. "This bill is a distraction from the real work that would bring us closer to a reasonable compromise for funding the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and avert a disruptive federal government shutdown that would put the nation's economic recovery in jeopardy."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said both he and Obama found the House proposal unacceptable. "The president has told the speaker that. I've told the speaker that," Reid said.

The one-week bill "is a nonstarter," Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

Democratic aides and senators said this week the proposal has no chance of Senate passage.

But Senate Republicans say it could pass easily if Reid brought it to the floor. They say the bill contains cuts that would be included in a deal on the six-month and note all its other parts have passed the Senate before.

"The bill that House Republicans will send over to the Senate today is nothing more than a smaller version of the larger bill that Democrats say that they want," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a speech urging Reid to move the one-week bill.

In a morning floor speech, Reid said Senate Republicans had joined Democrats and Obama in telling Boehner that the one-week bill is unacceptable to the Senate. GOP leadership aides said that statement deliberately distorts McConnell's counsel to Boehner. McConnell told Boehner to add the one-year defense extension to the bill to improve its odds of Senate passage, the aides said.

Meanwhile, House Democrats urged Republicans to pass a "clean" continuing resolution free of the abortion rider and the spending cuts.

House Minority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., made an effort to get a unanimous consent agreement on such a measure at current levels, which he said "would be signed by the president, will keep the government open." But Republicans did not go along. The House also voted to kill an effort by Democrats to send the bill back to the Appropriations Committee to prepare a clean version.

With time running out before the weekend deadline House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced that lawmakers may work this weekend.

"We are committed to getting our fiscal house in order and to keep the government functioning. Therefore members should keep their schedules for this weekend as flexible as possible," said Cantor, to the cheers of fellow Republicans.

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Progress reported in spending deal talks

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Negotiators working on six-month funding measure to avert a government shutdown on Saturday morning are reporting progress from talks on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to people close to the negotiations. The movement appears to the result of willingness by Democrats to entertain total cuts approaching the $40 billion target floated by House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Tuesday.

A Republican familiar with talks said negotiators are also nearing a compromise on the issue of policy riders and the breakdown of cuts in mandatory and discretionary spending in the bill. Republicans want to maintain $33 billion in cuts to discretionary spending in order to lower that baseline spending level moving forward. Appropriators on both sides of the aisle suggest that they will be ready to cut a deal once they receive a topline number of total cuts under which to work and guidance on what spending limitations to include.

House Republicans have pushed for inclusion of at least a few spending limitations, or riders, the House approved in February. Those include measures to block parts of the health care reform law; a provision to strip funding for Planned Parenthood; and another that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from spending money to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

According both GOP and Democratic sources, it is possible to to have a bill ready for the House floor by Friday-- approching the shutdown deadline, but still leaving the opportunity for a deal.

Senate Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said on Wednesday morning that appropriators have agreed on a "framework" for dealing with the parts of the bill under her jurisdiction that will allow an agreement once an overall number for cuts is set.

"We're ready to go," Mikulski said.

She added that an overall deal will depend on the GOP showing flexibility, particularly on riders, but she did not rule out Democrats offering more than the $33 billion in total cuts they previously pushed as their topline number. Increased cuts could should come from mandatory spending, Mikulski said.

Determining a topline number is up to Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. It was not clear on Wednesday morning what number Reid would be willing to accept or what additional cuts his caucus would agree to.

Reid appeared to make a pitch for flexibility in a floor speech on Wednesday, saying that Democrats' only bottom line is "to avoid a shutdown."

"We want to pass a budget that makes smart cuts -- cuts that save money, but that don't cost jobs," Reid said. "This has been our bottom line throughout this process, so we've made tough choices. We've made those choices because we know that at this late stage of the game, reality is more important than ideology. We know that sacrifices are the cost of consensus, and we think they're worth it."

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House GOP to offer one-week stopgap spending measure

Billy House and Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The new measure was being described on Monday night as a "hybrid" continuing resolution, because it not only would contain funding to keep the government open for a week longer, but would also fund the Defense Department for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30. GOP aides said the short-term extension is expected to include about $12 billion in cuts over the one week.

The maneuver would provide additional time for lawmakers to reach a compromise on legislation to fund the remainder of the fiscal year and avoid a government shutdown this weekend. It would also ensure that the military is given more certainty as the negotiations continue.

If enacted, the measure would be the seventh temporary spending bill since the beginning of fiscal 2011, as a full-year plan remains elusive. Some conservative lawmakers, as well as some Democrats, have said they would not go along with another stopgap measure.

The CR is expected to be discussed in detail by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and rank-and-file House Republicans during a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday morning. Later on Tuesday, Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other lawmakers will meet with President Obama at the White House to try to strike a deal.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said after leaving a caucus meeting Monday evening that the committee would release legislation on Monday night, but declined to provide any details.

"We are serious about trying to prevent a government shutdown," Rogers told reporters. "But we are also serious about cutting spending and those are the two driving parameters of what we talked about."

Rogers said that talks had progressed in recent days, but said that Reid on Sunday "stopped good faith efforts. Senator Reid instructed his staff not to proceed any further with negotiations. The senator instructed his staff not to even tell the chairmen of the [Senate Appropriations] subcommittees on the Senate side the negotiation points we were talking about and I found that absolutely strange."

"Senator Reid had instructed all staff not to agree to any policy riders and all numbers had to go through him so the Senate negotiators really had nothing to talk about," Rogers said. "I am puzzled that the senator has stopped the negotiations knowing it could lead to a shutdown."

Reid spokesman Jon Summers fired back that Rogers's allegation of Reid calling off negotiations is "absolutely false," adding, "That's why the president himself will be at the table tomorrow."

"Rep. Rogers has a real credibility gap on this one. Negotiations continue and nothing regarding the approach to how they are being handled on the Democratic side has changed," Summers said. "Sen. Reid continues to consult with his caucus as we proceed. Rep. Rogers should spend more time working with us to wrap up negotiations and less time launching unproductive attacks."

The proposal could still be amended, said House Republican aides. But an initial version is to be posted late Monday night on the House Rules Committee web site, according to Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif.

"We're introducing it as an option. Not introducing it as 'we're going to take this up tomorrow,' " said a House Republican source. "We're introducing it as an option that we have on the table that we can use if we choose to do it."

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, also said that Reid is not negotiating in good faith. Simpson similarly charged that Reid is not allowing his Appropriations subcommittee chairmen to negotiate on their bills, which is slowing talks.

"We are doing everything we can to avoid a government shutdown. If it is shut down it is because Harry Reid refuses to negotiate in good faith," Simpson said.

Boehner's office also said on Monday night that House Administration Committee Chairman Dan Lungren, R-Calif., will explain to House GOP members at Tuesday morning's caucus meeting what will happen if the government shuts down.

Dan Friedman contributed to this report.

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GOP: White House punts on shutdown deal

Billy House and Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., on Tuesday accused the White House of making a government shutdown more likely by "rejecting" a House Republican offer to keep the government funded for one more week.

A White House meeting with congressional leaders produced no deal on a short-term spending measure on Tuesday morning, but the White House would not comment on its response to the GOP offer, saying only that a longer agreement was still possible before Friday's shutdown deadline.

"It is not necessary to continue a process of short-term measures when an agreement is within reach and we've had a target figure and the parameters of that agreement," said White House press secretary Jay Carney. As for the one-week offer, he added, "I'm not going to confirm or deny what we may or may not do."

Cantor's comments appear to be part of a strategic effort by the GOP to pin blame on the other side in the event of a shutdown. That in itself may be an indication that Republicans perceive an increasing risk of a shutdown.

That stop-gap measure unveiled by House Republican leaders on Monday night would require $12 billion in discretionary spending cuts, but also provide funding for the Defense Department through the remainder of FY11, which ends on September 30.

If enacted, it would be the seventh short-term continuing resolution since the start of the fiscal year, as the House and Senate continue to be unable to reach a deal to fund all of government through September 30. The current stop-gap measure expires at midnight on Friday.

Cantor's comments came during a news conference on Tuesday morning, as Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other lawmakers were meeting with President Obama at the White House. That meeting produced no deal, and Republicans say they were not happy with the options on the table.

"While there was a good discussion, no agreement was reached," Boehner said, adding that he "will not be put in a box and forced to choose between two options that are bad for the country" -- either a "bad deal" or a shutdown.

The Speaker said the new CR has not yet been scheduled for floor action, and that Republicans' strong preference is to instead pass a bipartisan agreement this week that makes real spending cuts and keeps the entire government running through September.

But, Cantor said, "the White House has indicated now that they are already rejecting that notion, which is raising the risk of a government shutdown."

"I think that what it looks like is that the White House has increased the likelihood of a shutdown in just dismissing out of hand a vehicle that we have put forward to say, 'Look, we don't want a shutdown'."

Cantor added that the offer was in part an effort to make sure that there was no disruption in military funding. "Our members are very concerned to make sure our troops are funded and they are paid regardless," he said. "We in the House have consistently said we don't want don't want to shut government down, we just want to cut spending."

The Republican bill, specifically, provides $515.8 billion in base funding for the DOD, a 2.9 percent reduction from President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request, and a $7.6 billion increase, or 1.5 percent, above the fiscal 2010 level.

It provides a total of $157.8 billion for overseas contingency operations for missions abroad, including $126.4 billion for military personnel, providing for 1,432,400 active duty and 846,200 reserve troops. The bill also contains a total of $165.6 billion for operations and maintenance, $102.1 billion for procurement, $75 billion for research and development, and $31.4 billion for Defense health programs.

Of the $12 billion in cuts included in the measure, $2.5 billion come from Labor Department and Health and Human Services programs, including $156 million from Centers for Disease Control immunization and respiratory disease funding, $185 million in hospital preparedness grants, $119 million in "Teaching American History" program funding, $390 million from the LIHEAP contingency fund, and $300 million in information technology funding at the Social Security Administration.

Many of those cuts were also included in the president's budget requests, in the Senate's CR proposal, or in the Office of Management and Budget CR proposal, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

Another $2 billion in cuts come from Transportation and Housing and Urban Development programs, including $1.5 billion from rail grant funds. In addition, Capital Investment Grants would be cut by $280 million, the Public Housing Operating fund is cut by $149 million, and the University Community Fund is eliminated, saving $25 million.

The GOP measure also includes language preventing Guantanamo Bay detainees from being transferred into the United States for any purpose, prevents the construction or modification of detention facilities within the U.S for the housing of detainees, and requires the secretary of Defense to provide a certification to Congress that a transfer of any detainee to any foreign country or entity will not jeopardize the safety of the U.S. or its citizens. This language is virtually identical to existing law that was included in the National Defense Authorization Act.

The CR also includes a provision preventing both federal and local funds from being used to provide abortions in the District of Columbia, also known as the Dornan amendment.

Cantor, who last week had seemed to rule out the possibility of House Republicans going along with another short-term continuing resolution, said no final decision has been made on whether the chamber will go ahead and pass its one-week measure.

"We have posted the bill online. We have not made a decision whether to move this bill forward or not," he said.

"We're looking to see how we can avoid a government shutdown but cut spending. We have not made a decision whether to move forward or not."

When pressed on whether House Republicans might be willing to negotiate and embrace a short-term CR containing less than $12 billion in cuts, he said: "Our members are resolute in wanting to see that we can cut as much spending as possible."

Cantor expressed further pessimism when asked later, at his weekly news conference, if Republicans would waive their three-day rule for public posting of a bill before floor action if such an agreement was reached later this week.

"I don't know if that hypothetical is even applicable," he said, adding, "I'm saying I don't think that that's even a likelihood, and that there would be some need for a bridge to get there."

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Obama calls Hill leaders to White House for talks on avoiding shutdown

Billy House and Humberto Sanchez — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

President Obama is calling congressional leaders to the White House on Tuesday to try and forge a last-ditch deal on a spending plan to avert a federal government shutdown at midnight Friday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's face-to-face meeting with House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and others is being called because "time is of the essence."

A spokesman for Boehner confirmed the invitation. "The speaker hopes to meet with the president to discuss the need to keep the government open while making real cuts in spending, and we're working with the White House to schedule that meeting," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the White House have been negotiating a deal that would fund the remainder of the fiscal year while cutting about $33 billion from current spending levels. The parties are still deciding what to cut to get to that level of reduction, Democrats have said.

Much of the uncertainty about the prospects for a deal seems to hinge on whether Boehner can convince enough members of his own conference to vote for a bill in which the proposed cuts are so much smaller than those already passed by the House. The GOP funding bill cuts $61 billion from current levels.

What Boehner will be able to offer from his side at Tuesday's White House meeting will hinge on the outcome of discussions planned for Monday night with the House Republican conference. Hard-liners in the House GOP have continued to press for nothing less than a spending plan that cuts $61 billion from current levels.

Tuesday's meeting also will come on the day House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is to unveil a fiscal 2012 budget plan that would cut at least $4 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years, reshape Medicare, and change Medicaid into a program of block grants to the states. But it's the lack of a spending plan for the remaining months of fiscal 2011 that is likely to dominate attention at the meeting.

Obama spoke by telephone with Boehner and Reid on Saturday, urging them to reach a deal and underscoring that a shutdown would hurt the economy. Other lawmakers expected to be at Tuesday's meeting with Boehner and Reid are House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., and Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii.

But whether Congress can reach a compromise funding deal by the Friday night deadline remains uncertain.

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Reid predicts budget will omit many policy riders

Billy House and Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0400

As Senate Democrats and House Republicans continue negotiating a spending measure for the rest of this fiscal year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., said on Friday he doesn't expect many of the policy riders now in the House-passed bill to survive in the final agreement.

"We are going to have a full discussion on the riders, but we are going to get the number agreed to first," Reid told reporters on a conference call. But he added, "We are not going to bend on some on these ridiculous riders they have."

In February, the House passed a GOP measure that would cap spending this year at $1.028 trillion, $61 billion below current spending levels.

The bill also included a number of policy provisions, also known as spending limitations, to stop initiatives that Republicans oppose. The policy riders include several to block parts of the Democrats' health care reform law; a provision to strip funding for Planned Parenthood; and another that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from spending money to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.

Senate Democrats oppose all of those, but some could end up in the final package in some form.

According to Democrats, House and Senate negotiators are working on a deal for the remainder of fiscal 2011 to cap spending at $1.055 trillion, which is $33 billion below current levels. The talks are touching on which policy riders to include in a final agreement, and the outcome on those issues could affect the top-line number.

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters on Friday, "There is no number, there's no agreement on numbers," and said, "We're going to fight for the largest spending cuts that we can get."

Boehner also repeated several times that the goal is not to shut the government down. Lawmakers have until midnight on April 8 to agree on either a funding measure for the rest of the fiscal year or another short-term extension to allow a deal to be considered and passed by Congress. Failure to do anything would lead to a government shutdown.

"You shut the government down, it'll end up costing more than you save," Boehner said, "because it'll interrupt contracts. A lot of problems with the idea of shutting the government. It is not the goal."

Reid also warned of the perils of a government shutdown. "Our fragile economy cannot afford a shutdown," he said. "Last time there was a shutdown, more than $3 billion in exports sat idle in our ports instead of being sold overseas."

But it's not clear if lawmakers will wrap up negotiations in time. Reid said he does not expect Congress to take up another short-term extension unless it is needed to "finalize the paperwork in the agreement that we make."

Boehner said he won't be in Washington for negotiations this weekend, but that appropriators "are doing their job," and that "other conversations" are taking place

Reid on Friday was very dismissive of the policy riders in the House-passed bill, including one that would prohibit funding for National Public Radio.

"We have said time and time again that the riders that are ridiculous in nature, and most of them are, have no chance of surviving," Reid said. "We are going give them the courtesy that we would want them to give us on these riders, we will look at them one by one, but there are some places we are not going to go. We are not going to deal with ... Planned Parenthood, National Public Radio. For me, personally, and I think for my caucus, we are not going to spend a lot of time on those."

On riders involving EPA, Reid said, "Neither the White House or the Senate leaders are going to accept any EPA riders that they have in their bill at this stage"

Reid also noted that negotiators are discussing how much in mandatory spending will be part of the final deal, but he didn't provide any other details. Democrats have pointed to agriculture subsidies that are no longer needed as an example of a possible mandatory cut.

Reid also mocked tea party members' rally at to the Capitol. "There were tens of them here yesterday; that's a chosen word, tens of them, who showed up at Capitol Hill," Reid said. "We could look at them out my balcony window here, and there weren't many to look at."

He also said that a vote in the House on Friday to reassert House support for the bill it passed in February was a waste of time.

"Unfortunately, today my colleagues in the House seem to be listening to this small but loud minority," Reid said. "I heard on the radio all kinds of accounts ... today about, they have to keep this number of $100 billion. Instead of working to create jobs, they are wasting time by voting yet again on a reckless spending bill."

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Biden: Parties agree on figure for overall budget deal

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Leaving a meeting with Senate Democratic leaders, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday evening that House and Senate negotiators had reached a partial agreement and were now "working off the same number," after the Appropriations chairmen in both chambers had agreed on $73 billion in total cuts from the spending levels proposed in President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal-or $33 billion from current levels. Republicans had pledged to cut $100 billion from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget.

The specific cuts that will make up that $73 billion number are still to be decided and Biden stopped short of declaring a deal, saying there was much left to negotiate.

The sides must also reach a deal on policy riders attached to the bill. The talks relate not only to a level of spending cuts but to "what they will swallow and what we will swallow in terms of riders," Biden said. "There [are] some things we are just not going to do in terms of riders. Even if you swallow everything else. We're just not going to do it."

"There's not a deal until there's a whole deal," Biden said. "So the composition of the $73 [billion] makes a big difference."

Still, the progress reported Wednesday night appears to be the result of a grown-up discipline suddenly taking hold of the process, despite the continuing public acrimony and heated rhetoric from the extremes of both parties.

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Michael Steel, did not specifically dispute Biden's assertion that the sides are working off the same number but said, "There is no deal until everything is settled -- spending cuts and policy restrictions."

Steel added: "The vice president simply hasn't been at the table."

And a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., Brad Dayspring, said "Eric isn't in the room and has no knowledge of that [number]; to the contrary, he's been told there is no deal."

After accusing Boehner of abandoning serious talks earlier this week, Democrats said Boehner aides had met with the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Tuesday night in a bargaining session.

Also Wednesday, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., confirmed that he has been talking to Blue Dog Democrats, in what could be a sign that House GOP leaders are considering scenarios in which passage of a spending deal might be dependent on House Democratic votes.

House Republicans to this point have been reluctant to discuss the talks. However, they do acknowledge that negotiations have been ongoing and will continue.

Lawmakers have until midnight April 8 to either come to an agreement on funding for the rest of the fiscal year, or a short-term extension to allow a deal to be considered and passed by Congress. Failure to do so would lead to a government shutdown.

"I think we will work it out," said Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who is chairman of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. "I don't think a majority on either side of the aisle think that a government shutdown is in their best interest or in the country's best interest."

Simpson noted that he believes momentum has picked up on negotiations. He also indicated that prospects of an agreement could lead House GOP leaders to change their mind about taking up a bill Friday to re-assert the House GOP's commitment to cutting $61 billion from current spending levels. The House passed a similar bill last month to fund the remainder of the fiscal year and cut $61 billion from current spending levels.

Senate Democrats have said that they have a plan on the bargaining table, backed by the White House, to cap spending at $1.058 trillion, which is a $31 billion cut from current levels and a $70 billion cut from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request. The $70 billion proposal includes $51 billion in cuts from the Democrats' previous proposal, plus $20 billion in new cuts.

They assert that the sides were at one point just $6 billion apart, with Republicans willing to cap discretionary spending at $1.052 trillion, which translates to a $37 billion cut from fiscal 2010, and a $76 billion cut from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal.

But agreement on a top line spending figure is also contingent on how many policy riders, which limit spending in the bill, will be included in the final deal.

The bill passed by the House last month included several to prevent implementation of the health care reform law, stripping funding for Planned Parenthood, and prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency from spending funds to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, all of which Senate Democrats oppose. But they are under discussion, Democrats have said.

As talks intensify, House GOP leaders also appear to be flirting with the possibility that they will likely need Democrats to pass a compromise. The vote on the last temporary spending extension saw 54 Republicans break with their leadership and oppose the continuing resolution, which passed with the help of 85 Democrats.

But McCarthy stressed that his discussions with Democrats have been about longer-term budget issues. "The Blue Dogs had asked to meet with me when I got elected majority whip," McCarthy said of his talks with the group. "I want to talk [with] the Blue Dogs, if they are serious about saving these entitlements … and the budget going forward … that's what our conversations were about."

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats and House Republicans have been fighting a public relations war over the negotiations.

For Senate Democrats, that has entailed Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democratic surrogates releasing information on talks trying to depict GOP leaders as caving to tea party pressure even as negotiators representing Reid attempt to convince Boehner aides to cut a deal that rejects that course.

Cantor has been fighting back for the GOP against Schumer's assertions. But the balancing act appears tougher for Boehner and his allies. Republicans are particularly reluctant to back down on spending cuts with a high profile tea party rally scheduled Thursday near the Capitol, which is designed to keep the pressure on lawmakers to hold the line.

Major Garrett contributed to this report.

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Democrats say only $6 billion separates sides in budget talks

Billy House and Humberto Sanchez — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The difference between a government shutdown or not might come down to just $6 billion in a $3 trillion-plus budget.

Senate Democrats asserted on Tuesday that the two sides are only $6 billion apart from a deal to fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, and urged House Republicans to come to the Senate to hash out a compromise.

"We are ready to find common ground," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Republicans disputed Democrats' account of events and stressed any talk of a deal is premature.

"There are a lot of numbers that have been discussed and thrown around," House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on Tuesday. "The fact is, there's not an agreement [among] numbers. And secondly, nothing's agreed to until everything is agreed to."

According to Democrats, House Republicans had-at one point in negotiations-said they were willing to cap discretionary spending at $1.052 trillion, which translates to a $37 billion cut from fiscal 2010, and a $76 billion cut from President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal.

But, Democrats contend, Republicans have since backed away from the emerging framework for a deal, casting the GOP leaders as under pressure to do so from hard-line conservatives in their conference.

Instead, Republicans are continuing to publicly push to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending compared to Obama's fiscal 2011 budget-a promise made during last year's campaign-or $61 billion from current spending.

The House passed that GOP proposal last month, and included several policy riders such as a provision to strip funding from Planned Parenthood and prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions.

Senate Democrats, who believe the GOP proposal is too severe, have put a plan on the bargaining table, backed by the White House, to cap spending at $1.058 trillion, which is a $31 billion cut from current levels and a $70 billion cut from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request.

The $70 billion proposal includes those $51 billion in cuts, in addition to $20 billion in new cuts that include discretionary and mandatory spending reductions.

"Sitting on Sen. Reid's desk right now is a serious proposal that cuts $70 billion in government spending while protecting America's economic recovery," Jon Summers, Reid's spokesman, said in a release. "If Republicans are truly interested in forging a bipartisan agreement that avoids a government shutdown, they should come back to the negotiating table and look at what's in the proposal."

Reid attributed GOP reluctance to compromise to concern over a possible backlash from the conservative tea party wing of the Republican conference.

"Republicans need to decide which is worse: angering their tea party base, or shutting down the government and threatening our fragile economy even more," Reid said. "The recovery right now is fragile; a shutdown would make it really bad."

House Majority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., engaged in a rhetorical bob-and-weave with reporters on Tuesday afternoon over whether House Republicans had, in fact, pulled back last week from talks that may have led to a potential compromise.

"I think it's very one-sided what you're hearing," said Cantor at one point. Pressed, then, whether he was refuting the story that Republicans walked away because of internal problems in selling the plan to the GOP conference, Cantor said, "[What] I'm saying is there's never been any internal disagreement on our side about the need for us to go forward and cut spending in this town."

He said the $61 billion in cuts contained in H.R. 1 already passed by the House "is our position. We demonstrated that."

"And the Senate has not demonstrated anything. They're telling you a lot," he said, saying that Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer of New York and Democrats want "to continue to sort of drive this wedge within our conference. I'm telling you that's not true."

Boehner said that talks have also touched on the policy riders included in the House-passed package. Including some of the riders in the final deal would give Boehner a point on which to sell conservatives reluctant to back the plan that cuts less than the $61 billion proposed in the House bill.

"It's just not cutting spending," Boehner said. "There are a number of limitations that passed [on] the floor of the House."

Boehner also noted that spending bills typically carry such riders that limit how funding can be spent. Some Democrats have argued that the measure funding the rest of the year should be free of such provisions, which they contend complicates negotiations.

Reid indicated that riders were under consideration, but also signaled that they are generally opposed by Democrats.

"We're happy to look at the policy riders," Reid said. "There aren't many of them that excite me. But we're willing to look at them. In fact, we've already started looking at some of the policy riders."

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said on a conference call that the Planned Parenthood provision is "a nonstarter."

"It's not budgeting; it's a political vendetta, and we are not going to be a party to that," Boxer said, adding that the several other policy riders would "repeal major portions of the Clean Air Act" and that Democrats would not likely agree to them either.

Boehner also called on Senate Democrats to pass a measure, just as the House did last month, so that the two chambers could conference their positions in the regular fashion.

"It's time for the Senate to move a bill so that we can sit down and begin the negotiations," Boehner said. "We're not going to negotiate with ourselves."
"We've done our work," Boehner continued.

Democrats call the suggestion that they simply bring their proposal to the floor unrealistic. Without a deal with House Republicans, the plan would not pass the House. Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., according to GOP aides, is following Boehner's lead. GOP aides say McConnell and Senate Republicans will back a bill if Boehner and House Republicans will. Senate Republicans are also unlikely to provide the seven votes Reid would need to pass his own bill without House GOP support.

"We have a proposal," Summers said. "All they have to do is just talk to us and we can negotiate … They walked away from the table. They have to come back."

Dan Friedman contributed to this report.

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With revolt brewing, House GOP backs off budget deal

Dan Friedman, Billy House, and Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The deja vu nature of the negotiations raises the distinct possibility that the government could shut down after the April 8 expiration of the current stopgap spending measure. Congress could also pass a seventh temporary extension since the end of the fiscal year on September 30, but lawmakers' appetites for them appear to have run out.

A congressional aide briefed on negotiations said Monday that Republicans had -- at one point -- agreed to work on a deal with the White House that would cap discretionary spending for fiscal 2011 at $1.055 trillion, which is $35 billion less than the fiscal 2010 level and $74 billion less than what was requested by President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget.

But the aide said the GOP pulled back from that agreement last week after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., warned House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that the deal would trigger a revolt from tea party conservatives.

That agreement had come after Republicans rejected a Democratic offer with $11 billion in total cuts. Republicans had been pushing for $61 billion in cuts over seven months, which amounts to $100 billion in cuts compared to Obama's fiscal 2011 budget. The House passed the GOP proposal in February.

Negotiators included staff from the offices of Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

But, "They pulled the rug out," the congressional aide said of that agreement last week. "They brought the negotiations back to square one, after the speaker indicated he could agree to a figure that was about half-way between," the aide said.

An additional conflict came over including some cuts to mandatory spending, which Democrats said Republicans have resisted. Aides in both parties said talks between Reid's and Boehner's staffs continue, but that no conversations involving the White House are currently set.

The scenario is similar to one that played out in early February, when House Republican leaders were forced to add more cuts to a continuing resolution written by the House Appropriations Committee and set by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would have also capped discretionary spending at $1.055 trillion.

House GOP aides disputed that characterization of the talks. "Not true," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, when he was pressed for a response on Monday. Steel added that the talks are continuing, and that, "No agreement will be made or announced until all of the outstanding issues -- including funding limitations -- are settled."

"At this point, the House has done its work by passing a bill, and the Democrats who run Washington have not," said Steel. "No spin can change that fact."

Another Republican congressional aide said that "candid conversations" among the GOP leaders about strategy are ongoing, amid the continued talks with Democrats. But the aide said those GOP conversations should not be portrayed or misconstrued as signs of internal division, but rather "honest and open conversations about how we can best proceed."

Against this backdrop Monday, one of the nation's largest tea party groups -- the Tea Party Patriots -- announced details of their planned "Continuing Revolution" rally near the Capitol this Thursday.

The event is being described as an effort to underscore the growing impatience with Republicans, in particular, for not taking a tougher stand on the Washington spending standoff.

In a sign of what Boehner is facing, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Steve King, R-Iowa, Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Tom Graves, R-Ga., are to be among the speakers at the rally, held at the Robert A. Taft Memorial, west of the upper Senate Park.

Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for Liberty; Colin Hanna, founder of Let Freedom Ring; and Dick Morris are also listed as speakers.

"Our country is in critical financial despair, our economy is stuck in recession, and all Americans are feeling the effects. Meanwhile, it's business as usual in Washington. They are continuing their resolutions, which don't seem to be resolving much of anything," an alert for the rally states.

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Obama signs three-week stopgap spending bill

Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

President Obama signed legislation on Friday that will cut $6 billion from current discretionary spending and fund the government for another three weeks.

The bill was passed by the Senate on Thursday and the House on Tuesday. It gives House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the White House additional time to strike a deal on spending for the rest of fiscal 2011, which ends on September 30. The current stopgap spending measure expires at midnight Friday.

The White House is looking to step up negotiations with House Republicans in an effort to iron out a package by the end of the month, according to GOP sources.

Aides of House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., met with White House staff on Wednesday, Reid said at a press conference after the Senate vote. More meetings are expected next week while the House and Senate are on recess.

Enactment of the law comes as Republicans are growing increasingly impatient with the short-term continuing resolutions. The one signed Friday would be the sixth since the fiscal year began on October 1. The discontent puts pressure on congressional leaders and the White House to reach an agreement on a funding bill for the rest of the fiscal year, because lawmakers in both parties say it will be difficult to win enough support for a another short-term bill.

The new short-term CR cuts $6 billion from current spending and the previous, two-week stopgap pared $4 billion. Republicans want to cut a total of $61 billion from current spending this year, or $100 billion from Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal-a GOP campaign promise.

Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Thursday that negotiators should also take a harder look at military spending, which is mostly untouched by the House bill. "There is a pretty universal feeling on our side that you have to go beyond domestic discretionary to get to a number that would be a compromise number," Schumer said.

Democrats also continue to urge Republicans to accept a smaller volume of cuts in the final deal and are hoping to split the difference. That would put them close to what House Republican appropriators initially recommended before some in their GOP caucus, including the tea party-backed freshmen, demanded deeper cuts.

Some Republicans warn that a compromise would show a lack of resolve. Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., called the Democratic alternative a "pittance reduction."

"We need to do $61 billion; we do not need a compromise halfway, some $30 billion reduction in spending," Sessions said. "I do believe that will show weakness on our part, a lack of resolve, which would not be a good signal for our economy today."

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Three-week funding measure headed to president

Humberto Sanchez — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The Senate on Thursday sent President Obama legislation that would cut $6 billion from current discretionary spending and fund the government for another three weeks beyond Friday when the current stopgap spending bill expires.

Along with avoiding a government shutdown, the new short-term continuing resolution, which passed 87 to 13, is designed to provide additional time for lawmakers to negotiate a deal for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Senate action comes as the House passed the bill Tuesday, 271 to 158, with 54 Republicans joining 104 Democrats opposing the measure. The House vote -- with so many Republicans voting against their leadership -- reflects a growing impatience with the fight over fiscal 2011 spending. Only six Republicans voted against the previous extension.

The House vote also suggests that House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, will likely need Democratic votes to pass a final deal. Eighty-five Democrats voted for the three-week stopgap and 104 voted for the previous CR.

Pressure is building on congressional leaders and the White House to reach an agreement as soon as possible because it will likely be very difficult to win support for a subsequent short-term extension.

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House GOP, White House ramp up talks on budget deal

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Talks between the House Republicans and administration are accelerating as both sides push for a deal in the next two weeks to avert a government shutdown.

The negotiations are under way on several levels. Conversations between Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew and House Appropriations Republican staff have begun. Democratic aides said those talks are an offshoot of existing negotiations involving leadership staff from both chambers that helped produce a deal last week on a three-week continuing resolution. Talks between House Speaker Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, and President Obama or a senior designee are set to begin as soon as this week, a senior GOP source said.

The efforts come with the Senate likely to pass the three-week continuing resolution including about $6 billion in spending cuts on Thursday, according to leadership aides. The increased pace reflects the belief at the White House and among congressional eaders that a deal must be struck in March to give both chambers time to act on a negotiated bill before the two-week Easter recess. If the three-week CR is passed by the Senate, as expected, Congress will have until April 8 to reach a compromise.

The senior GOP source said the deal will be cut by Boehner and Obama, written by the House Appropriations Republicans, and effectively presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis to Senate Democrats, who would be expected to swallow it.

Democratic leadership aides say they are confident that Lew will not give House Republicans their preferred level of cuts. Lew's "interests pretty much align with ours," said an aide, who insisted that a deal between the White House and Boehner would not resemble last year's tax deal, which the White House cut with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with limited Democratic input.

While Senate Democrats may grumble at being sidelined, Republicans argue that they have made themselves irrelevant. And the chance to hand the ball to the administration may be privately welcomed by many Senate Democrats who have been clamoring for a stepped-up White House role in talks and who are struggling to unite behind any clear stance on what level of spending cuts they will accept.

House Republicans acknowledge that Tuesday's vote on the three-week CR, with 54 Republicans in opposition, gives House Democrats a larger role.

Republicans are optimistic about chances for agreement with Lew, who has worked with many House appropriators and won public praise from key players such as Appropriations Chairman Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.

"Jack Lew and I go back a long way, so I really have high respect for him," Rogers said at a National Journal event on Wednesday. "He is a professional. He understands what each party has to contend with. So I am very hopeful we'll get it done."

A challenge will be finding agreement on an overall number for cuts. Republicans in both chambers are committed to meeting something close to the overall number of about $60 billion in cuts included in the seven-month continuing resolution the House passed last month, which the Senate rejected. Republican sources said Lew has indicated he will not agree on a large number for cuts without clarity on the implications to federal programs. Lew wants the policy to drive the numbers, the opposite of the GOP approach.

Asked on Wednesday if he has a number in mind, Rogers said he "was always told not to show your cards until [you are ready] to lay them down."

Rogers noted that the level of cuts, their effect on specific programs, and policy riders such as stripping funds from Planned Parenthood "are all part of the conversations we are having."

He added that House Republican leaders "will make the big decisions… and we will be a part of that conversation."

Rogers noted that the policy riders could also be included in the fiscal 2012 appropriations bills, a signal that they may not have to be included in a final deal. Democrats have argued they are nonstarters.

While President Obama has urged no cuts to funding for education, infrastructure, and other programs he believes will pay off in time, Rogers said that the pain must be shared across the discretionary budget, and that he expects government programs within his purview to remain under scrutiny and on the chopping block until deficits can be brought under control.

Major Garrett contributed to this report.

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House passes government funding bill for three more weeks

Humberto Sanchez — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

The House on Tuesday passed a stopgap funding bill that would cut $6 billion from current discretionary spending levels and keep the government operating through April 8. The House action comes as pressure increases on House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House to find a compromise on spending for the rest of the fiscal year.

The House approved the bill 271 to 158 with 54 Republicans joining 104 Democrats against the measure, which now goes to the Senate for passage before the end of the week when the current CR expires.

"While a short-term funding measure such as this is not the preferable way to fund the government, at this point, it is vital," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky. "The budget for fiscal year 2011 - which was punted to us by the previous Congress - is long, long overdue. I agree with many of my colleagues that we must get down to business and come to a final agreement as quickly as possible. "

Democrats blamed Republicans for refusing to come down from the $61 billion in cuts they intend to make from current spending levels, which also translates to $100 billion from President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal -- a pledge Republicans made during last year's campaign.

"This is a lousy way to run a railroad," said House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who added that he does not expect Democrats to support another short-term extension." We need to come to agreement."

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New continuing resolution shows GOP’s strong hand

Humberto Sanchez — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Fiscal years have now collapsed into fiscal weeks.

With no sign of a compromise on the horizon, House Republican leaders have taken the initiative and will unveil another stopgap funding bill on Friday that will cut roughly $6 billion from current discretionary spending levels and continue to fund the government for three weeks past the March 18 expiration of the current continuing resolution.

The cuts are expected to come from a mix of earmarks and programs targeted for termination in President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget, a combination intended to ensure passage in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

The bill could be considered by the full House as soon as Tuesday.

Passage by the House is likely, as it keeps to the pro-rated level of cuts -- $2 billion per week -- that keeps them on track to roll back discretionary spending to approximately 2008 levels. Once passed by the House the measure would go to the Senate, which would then send it to the President Obama for his signature.

Although the proposal from the House underscores the strong negotiating position the GOP is in, some members are uneasy with the idea of another short-term extension.

"I am really not warmed over to that, because if you continue to do that you continue to create a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability for the American people," said Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., a tea party favorite and one of 87 GOP freshmen. He would not say whether he would vote for the measure.

West said he is against the idea of short-term measures funding the government and would like a bill to take care of the rest of the year, and is urging the GOP to stand by their proposal to cut $57 billion from current spending levels. "This is a drop in the ocean … we will look like idiots."

West noted that the Government Accountability Office released a report last week that listed 33 areas where federal programs overlap, creating the potential for savings through consolidation or elimination of duplicative programs. Republicans said that such actions could save up to $100 billion a year.

The three weeks will provide additional time for congressional leaders and the White House to negotiate a compromise. The government is currently operating on a stopgap measure that runs through March 18. If Congress fails to act on a short-term extension or an agreement for the remainder of fiscal 2011, which ends on September 30, the government would shut down.

If no deal materializes, it's unclear what the appetite will be to do another short-term extension, given that more difficult cuts will likely have to be made then. "Then you are past the window dressing, and then you are actually into some substantive spending cuts," said Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, a member of the Appropriations Committee. "What happens after those three weeks depends upon how much movement there is in those three weeks. If there is movement, great; if there is not movement, then what's the point of keeping talking?"

White House officials, including Office of Management Budget Director Jacob Lew and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, met with Senate Democrats on Thursday. The discussion centered on "where we are and what we need to do address the current situation with the budget," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. "It was a good exchange of ideas."

The latest developments come after the Senate defeated a Republican proposal on Wednesday to cut $57 billion from current levels and fund the rest of the fiscal year. That vote went down, 44-56, with three Republicans joining Democrats in voting against the plan. The proposal, which fell well short of 60 votes needed for approval, was approved by the House last month. The Senate also defeated a Democratic alternative-which failed 42-58, with 11 Democrats joining Republicans in voting against the measure. The Democratic alternative would have cut $4.7 billion from current levels. The Democratic bill also needed to win 60 votes to pass.

Democrats held the votes to demonstrate that neither proposal would pass the Senate and that Republicans would be forced to negotiate down from the amount of cuts they want.

Meanwhile, a group of Senate Republicans pledged to block consideration of any bill in their chamber that does not seek to reduce the deficit and debt. They would not act on their threat if there is significant floor debate on the issue ahead of the need to increase the debt limit this spring. The group sent a letter on Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., outlining the issue.

"We're telling Sen. Reid that we'll object to any legislation that fails to directly address meaningful spending cuts," Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said in a release. "If Reid agrees to dedicate significant floor time to debate spending and debt well in advance of the federal government reaching our statutorily mandated debt limit, then we'll withhold our objection."

Reid spokesman Jon Summers said that the demand will delay needed legislation that would create jobs.

"After ignoring jobs for months, Republicans are making it official by vowing to block every bill that creates American jobs," Summers said.

Billy House contributed to this report.

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Dems still looking for path on spending

Dan Friedman and Humberto Sanchez — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Competing Republican and Democratic plans to cut discretionary spending and fund the remainder of the fiscal year failed to pass on Wednesday, a development that Democrats hope will at last refocus negotiators to find middle ground.

But the GOP unity in the votes appeared more likely to fuel Republican unwillingness to split the difference with Democrats.

"This gives momentum to the view that we don't just split the baby," Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said on Wednesday of the votes.

Both bids needed 60 votes to pass. The Republican plan, which went down 56-44 with three Republicans joining all Democrats in opposing the bill, would cut $57 billion from current spending levels and keep the government operating through the end of the fiscal year, September 30. The only GOP defections came from the right, with Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., voting against the bill because it was insufficiently aggressive in attacking the deficit.

The measure, which was drafted by House Republicans and passed that chamber last month, also includes a number of policy riders, including several provisions to defund the Affordable Care Act and language stripping funds for Planned Parenthood.

The Democratic alternative-which failed, 42-58, with 11 Democrats joining Republicans against the measure-would cut $4.7 billion from current levels.

Two of those "no" votes were from Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.

The government is currently operating on a stopgap funding measure that runs through March 18. Another short-term extension might be needed if an agreement for the remainder of fiscal 2011 cannot be reached by then, but Senate Democratic leaders have signaled opposition to another extension in an effort to keep the pressure on.

After the votes, Democrats said that the results showed that they are ready to start serious talks to find middle ground, and Republicans should be, too.

"With this vote out of the way, we are going to do some serious negotiations now," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "This paves the way to get something done."

His comments came as Democrats have started urging Republicans to allow other parts of the budget to be part of the deficit reduction debate, such as mandatory spending and closing tax loopholes for oil and gas exploration, which they argue are not needed.

"Our goal is to fund the government for the rest of this year, and in the 'out years,' this isn't just for the next few weeks; we are going to try to get a universal deal and do something for the good for the country" Reid said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who heads the Senate Democrats' policy and communications office, played down the fact that 11 Democrats voted against the Democratic alternative.

"The overwhelming message here is that the House bill is not going to pass the Senate, and they ought to start negotiating," Schumer said.

"We know that our bill isn't a finished product; they have been acting like their bill is," Schumer continued. "My view, [and] I think it is the view generally of the Democratic caucus, is that the only way you'll get both deficit reduction and real job growth is not focusing solely on domestic discretionary, even though there have to be cuts there."

Schumer conceded that finishing funding for fiscal 2011 might have to come first before the discussion on other parts of the budget can begin. "I think it's likely that we try to finish 2011 first, but you can use the model [of broader budget talks] to try to solve 2011 as well."

Also, it's not clear if the White House is supportive of the Senate Democrats' efforts to broaden the debate.

Asked if a deal on fiscal 2011 had to be completed before broadening the debate, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that "I don't think that anyone thinks between now and March 18 we will resolve entitlement reform, tax expenditures, and all the other issues that go into a much bigger deal. But the elements that would go into a fiscal year 2011 agreement I don't want to negotiate from here."

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said Republicans had unified their members, with moderates such as Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Scott Brown of Massachusetts backing the bill despite objections to parts of it. "I suspect we all have some questions," Kyl said. "I know I do."

Kyl said the GOP conference was unified by arguing that doing so sent a message that Republicans back serious cuts.

Kyl noted that Republicans avoided moderate defections even though the vote came on the bill itself, rather than cloture on a motion to proceed to the bill.

He said the knowledge that Democrats would provide the votes to defeat the bill probably made it easier for Republicans concerned about the bill to support it.

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Wednesday's spending votes will lay markers

Humberto Sanchez — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500

Senators will make their case for competing visions of how to fund the government on Wednesday afternoon, getting a chance to lay markers with two votes that will help determine where negotiations go from here.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on a Republican plan to fund the rest of the fiscal year and cut $57 billion from current discretionary spending levels and a Democratic plan to cut $4.7 billion.

At the same time, Senate Democrats are seeking to broaden the debate to include other parts of the budget, such as entitlements and other mandatory spending.

Democrats believe that holding votes on the two options will force Republicans to negotiate from their $57 billion figure by demonstrating that a middle path will need to be forged. Neither the GOP plan nor the Democratic plan is expected to win the 60 votes needed to pass.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Tuesday: "What we need is votes on both those [plans] so we can see whether or not a consensus exists. If neither of those produces a consensus, then the clear indication is we need to come together, everyone needs to move off their starting position, as the president clearly has, and resolve this. And I think we can. The president remains optimistic that we can."

Part of that broader resolution, if Senate Democratic leaders have their way, will include a discussion of mandatory spending, taxes, and other areas.

That call to expand the talks represents the latest Democratic bid to jar Republicans loose from an uncompromising position. Democrats have previously won official White House involvement in talks and forced Wednesday's votes in what they called an attempt to push Republicans to compromise.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., stressed that "we're willing to negotiate," but underscored that other parts of the budget should be part of the discussion.

"There are many other [parts of the budget] that we can look at" for savings, Reid said. "Commodity prices for farms, farm products have never been -- never been higher than they are today. There's money there. Take, for example, the offshore oil subsidies that one of the leading company's former chief executives said, 'We don't need those subsidies anymore.' There's money there."

"So without going into detail, there are other places we can move to bring about some cost savings," Reid continued, adding that defense spending and taxes should also be part of the discussion.

Senate Majority Whip Rep. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said: "If the Republicans are serious about dramatic deficit reduction this year, then let's bring a few more things to the table. Let's start talking about revenue, let's start talking about entitlement programs. It doesn't have to be the big ones [Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security]; there are lots of other entitlements we can bring to the table."

Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Chairman Chuck Schumer of New York was set to give a speech on Wednesday that will call "for the ongoing negotiations led by the White House to 'broaden the playing field' when it comes to deficit reduction and include mandatory spending cuts and tax code reforms as part of any final compromise," according to a release from his office.

Senate Republicans have been echoing House Republicans -- who wrote the GOP continuing resolution that passed the House last month -- in arguing that the $57 billion figure is the correct one. But they might seek changes under that top-line level of reductions.

"I think what we are saying with our vote [for the GOP package] is that we support reducing federal spending in the discretionary account by" $57 billion, said Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "Now we are going to reserve our right within that [figure] to set our own priorities. One change I don't want to see is a change in the number."

Both Senate Democrats and Republicans have been whipping their members to maximize support for their respective proposals.

"We'll get the vast majority of our people voting for it," Reid said of the Democratic plan.

GOP leaders hope to unify their members, or come close, on a vote for the House CR. Republican senators and aides said doing so would signal that they want to match the overall spending goal of the House CR, even if they had issues with specific cuts or the measure itself.

In what appeared a striking example of the push for unanimity, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., entered a GOP conference luncheon saying he opposed the bill, and emerged an hour later saying he had misspoke and would support the House measure. Lugar's office said he had been confused in a scrum of reporters when he addressed the question the first time.

Meanwhile, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he believes that another short-term CR will be needed to provide more time for congressional leaders to strike a compromise. The current CR expires on March 18.

"I think Republicans will be prepared in the House to do another two-, three-, or four-week CR, but each time we are going to go at it taking more bites, making sure we have cuts out there to make the economy stronger."

But, to keep the pressure on negotiators, Reid said he doesn't support the idea of another short-term CR.

"I personally am opposed to more short-term," Reid said. "We have to get the long-term done. Long-term is becoming short-term. We're down to about six months now. So I would hope that we can move forward on a long-term solution to the country's problems as it relates to this short-term budget problem. It's all short-term now. There is no long term. It's all short-term."

Dan Friedman contributed to this report.

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