Post by kevinfelixlee on Apr 7, 2011 1:07:46 GMT -5
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet tonight with the top two leaders in Congress to try to avert a U.S. government shutdown at week¡¯s end that could furlough 800,000 federal workers and halt government services.
The president ¡°has now decided that not enough progress has been made,¡± White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters in announcing the meeting as Obama rs gold was returning from stops today in Pennsylvania and New York.
The meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, comes as Boehner cited ¡°some progress¡± earlier today in talks over a spending plan for the remainder of the fiscal year. He also vowed to continue fighting for some additional spending cuts and policy provisions that Democrats are resisting.
After the White House meeting was announced, Reid said on the Senate floor that Republicans have been too uncompromising, and that both sides needed to make concessions to end the budget fight.
¡°It¡¯s time for my friends in the House of Representatives to stop campaigning and start governing,¡± Reid said.
Obama earlier this week said it would be ¡°inexcusable¡± for Congress to fall short of an accord and allow federal agencies to be closed for the first time in 15 years.
April 8 Deadline
Current government spending authority is scheduled to expire April 8. Without an agreement, all non-essential government functions would close.
Congressional officials negotiated privately as leaders publicly feuded over proposed spending cuts and the policy directives, and the administration and Congress prepared for a shutdown.
House Republican leaders say they will move through the chamber tomorrow a temporary funding measure that would keep the government operating through April 15, impose $12 billion in budget cuts and fund the Pentagon for the remainder of the year. Senate Democratic runescape items leaders have said they oppose the bill, meaning it may end up being a symbolic measure.
¡°I think we¡¯ve made some progress, yes¡± on an agreement, Boehner said after a telephone conversation with Obama this morning followed by a meeting with all House Republicans. ¡°But we are not finished, not by a long shot.¡±
A leading Senate Democrat said he was more optimistic than earlier in the week that an accord could be reached.
¡°I feel better today than I did yesterday,¡± said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber¡¯s second-ranking Democrat. ¡°There¡¯s a direct negotiation. There have been things put on the table that had not been discussed before, and I think that we¡¯re moving toward closure.¡±
$40 Billion
Boehner told Democrats yesterday at a private White House meeting that he might be able to agree to a plan that sliced $40 billion from current spending, according to an administration official who sought anonymity. That is $7 billion runescape money higher than the $33 billion plan lawmakers had been working to assemble.
A spokesman for Boehner, Michael Steel, declined to confirm whether the speaker had raised such a proposal.
Many of the House¡¯s Tea Party-backed freshmen are beginning to soften their opposition to compromising on funding levels for the rest of this fiscal year, said Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican.
¡°You can really see this week a lot of the freshmen evolving and growing¡± and ¡°maturing,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s three levers that make laws; we just have one of the three. That¡¯s just the way it is. The Senate¡¯s got one, the president¡¯s got one - they¡¯re starting to get it.¡±
Open to Compromise
Representative Bill Huizenga, a first-term Michigan Republican, said he¡¯s open to a compromise that has ¡°significant¡± spending cuts below the $61 billion approved in February by the House, but above $33 billion. He said the budget fight is now moving into a longer-term debate over cuts for next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
¡°I don¡¯t want to turn every skirmish into a war,¡± he said.
The Obama administration said it is preparing for a partial shutdown of operations if Congress doesn¡¯t act, which would suspend Internal Revenue Service audits and federal small- business loan processing, as well as government guarantees of some mortgages, according to an official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
800,000 Workers
About 800,000 government workers of 2 million total would be affected by a shutdown, the official said. Military, law enforcement, homeland security and other personnel deemed essential would remain on duty, though their paychecks would be delayed until the government reopens. Government runescape accounts programs that have an effect on the economy would be among the operations hit, including a suspension of loan guarantees by the Federal Housing Administration.
Congress, too, was bracing for a shutdown. Officials have told lawmakers and senior aides to designate which employees are ¡°essential¡± and must report to work, and said those deemed non-essential will be furloughed without pay. It¡¯s up to Congress to decide whether they will be compensated for the forced time off, as they have been during past shutdowns.
¡°It is unknown whether legislation will ultimately be passed in this circumstance to provide back pay for the period of furlough and you should plan accordingly,¡± said a sample letter to non-essential employees posted on the Committee on House Administration¡¯s website. ¡°We wish that we could provide you with more guidance on this issue but, due to the fluid nature of the situation, we cannot.¡±
Economic Recovery
Today in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, Obama said the stalemate threatens the U.S. economic recovery just as it is gaining momentum.
¡°Companies don¡¯t like uncertainty, and if they start seeing that suddenly we may have a shutdown of our government, that could halt momentum right when we need to build it up,¡± Obama said. ¡°I do not want to see Washington politics stand in the way of America¡¯s progress.¡±
The showdown over this year¡¯s spending persisted as House Republicans discussed their budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year that would cut the deficit in coming years by about three- quarters, with a $6 trillion reduction in spending and a 25 percent cap on tax rates. The proposal by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would trim the deficit next year to $995 billion from about $1.4 trillion now.
The plan¡¯s scope dwarfs what lawmakers are arguing over now, a spending measure to fund the government through the 2011 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
Policy Disputes
Complicating the debate over the 2011 budget is the dispute over dozens of so-called policy riders House Republicans tacked onto their 2011 spending plan that seek to limit the Obama administration¡¯s prerogatives for environmental runescape gold rules, health care and abortion, among other matters. Republicans have said they will only agree to strip some of the directives from a budget deal in return for deeper spending cuts.
Some Republicans were signaling they were ready to drop some of their demands for policy changes - such as defunding the health-care overhaul enacted last year law and Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions - from the 2011 spending package.
Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate who has been pressing to use the measure to halt the health-care law, said that goal and other policy directives her party wanted in the budget bill may have to wait.
¡°Defunding Obamacare has always been my issue and defunding Planned Parenthood, but if it means that we can fund the troops, there may need to be movement on that,¡± Bachmann said.