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A statement released late Friday by the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suggests Congress is moving towards a deal to avoid a government shutdown--at least for the short term. Democrats say they are "encouraged" by reports about the short term spending bill that House Republicans are expected to pass and send to the Senate on Tuesday.
"The plan Republicans are floating today sounds like a modified version of what Democrats were talking about." said Reid's spokesman Jon Summers in a statement.
A senior Democratic aide warned that the devil was in the details, and that leaders had yet to examine the full details of the entire House bill, which would fund the government for two weeks and includes $4-billion in spending cuts.
Still, Democrats appear to be much more optimistic about the short term fix than they had been earlier this week.
What's changed?
Yesterday, Senate Democrats said they were combing through the president's 2012 budget request, looking for spending cuts that could be applied this year. They also said they'd entertain cutting $8.5-billion worth of earmarks in the current spending bill that was passed by Congress in December.
Today, as House Republicans announced some of the details of their short term bill, they also cited earmarks and included similar cuts from the president's 2012 budget. (You can read the House proposal here.)
In a written statement, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the House bill "focuses on bipartisan ideas to reduce federal spending."
"President Obama and congressional Democrats agree with Republicans that these are potential areas to reduce spending, removing any excuses they have offered for demanding their status quo spending levels,” McConnell wrote. “As a result, there is now a clear path to finishing this short-term measure before the March 4th deadline."
Privately, Senate Republicans feel they have boxed Reid into a procedural corner and forced him to accept the House-backed bill. GOP aides say it would have been almost impossible for Reid to pass a Democratic bill before the government runs out of money at the end of next week.
If an agreement can be reached for a short term fix, a much larger fight remains on a longer-term bill that would fund government operations through September.
The long term bill that House Republicans passed last week contained $60-billion in spending cuts. Senate Democrats called it dead on arrival.
"We should keep our focus on what we need to do to cut spending and keep our economy growing in the long-term," said Reid's spokesman Jon Summers."But the 'my way or the highway' approach Republicans have been taking in the past only signals a desire for a government shutdown that our country can't afford. We hope this is a sign that they have abandoned it and will work with Democrats moving forward."
While Republicans say they “welcome” the news that Democrats appear fairly warm to their two-week spending proposal, GOP House leader Eric Cantor reiterated his party’s demand for deeper slashes to the longer-term measure that would fund the government until the end of the fiscal year.
“I’d caution my Senate Democrat colleagues to make sure that their cuts are significant and serious spending reduction proposals, not just minor efforts to trim around the edges,” he said in a statement.
Msnbc.com's Carrie Dann contributed.
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Dave if you do the same im good with that.
here is the simply rational for why this country is in this shape. we have lost our desire to be great and ahead of other. the country infrastructure is a complete joke, other country are way ahead of us. we are continue to pick and chose with cuts to make. what needs to happens, is for the president to ask for 5% from everything single program, govt expense that we can find, from defense all the way to national parks. if that doesn't do it, we start closing some military bases abroad, we increase fees, reduce our contribution to other countries. mean while we need to increase our investment in new industry, renewable energy, if the crisis in the middle east has taught us anything. oh by the way, cut tax credits for everything, next close all loop holes and go after all the tax cheat.
Our infrastructure is a disaster. By the way did you leave a zero out of your figure, because 50% is more like it.
I agree 100%. IT is time we start taking care of the working people.
This is all window dressing from both parties. Nothing significant is going to change until entitlements and military spending are tackled. Neither side has the guts to move forward with the suggestions put forth by Obama's bipartisan committee. We could start by raising the retirement age. The baby boomers caused most of the deficit and are going to send entitlement spend through the roof. They can work longer and so should everyone else. Social Security was not meant to support people for 10-20 years or more. The retirement age needs to increase to reflect increased life span. If folks want to retire earlier they can do so on their own dime. Like wise they should not be forced to retire (mandatory retirement ages), or forced distributions from retirement accounts.
Amazing worring about examining all details of this bill but couldn't or didn' have time for OBAMA CARE bill. This is what the dumbacrats call biparticain.
What is needed is a shutdown, one that lasts 180 days.
do you think we should pull all of our money out of the back to avoid loosing it all completely
Yes, you are exactly correct.
Its me yes take all of your money out of the bank and bury it in my back yard
I have one other thing to comment about. When anyone talks about cuts, they always mention " Entitlements" Have no problem with that as a whole. However.... SOCIAL SECURITY is NOT an entitlement. It is money we paid in to a supposedly Untouchable" account. That was, until the Demo's change it to where they could "Borrow" from it. That was/is MY money and the money from those I worked for, all my life. It IS NOT nor has it EVER been the Governments money. LEAVE IT ALONE !!!!
Oh, you mean put it in a "lock box"? I'm sure you were not one of the millions of GOPers making fun of Gore's comments way back when...
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Cutting spending when we're trying to climb out of the worst recession since the Great Depression is just plain stupid. So was extending the tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%.
But then again, this is America...
I couldn't agree more.
Most of the government's expenditures go to people (one way or another) who pay their bills and buy stuff. If that stops abruptly, you will see a financial crisis of hurricane proportions that makes the previous economic crisis look like a gentle spring rain.
The adjustments necessary to reduce the federal deficit and "right size" the federal government must happen with deliberate caution, allowing economic systems time to adjust at a reasonable pace. That includes reductions in spending and increases in revenue--whether through increased taxes (probably inevitable) or economic growth (not likely in the short term).
Sadly, our culture seems unable to take such a long view anymore. While I'm a huge patriot and fan of our system's strength (balancing power so that individual rights are preserved), the type of long-term deliberate government planning required now is NOT an inherent strength of our system, where leadership has to fight for their jobs every two to six years. Only the most responsible, selfless leadership can hope to plan and program appropriate to this situation and within the quite necessary strictures of our system that ensure no one person or small group accumulates too much power. Unfortunately, I do not perceive an iota of the selflessness and responsibility required as highlighted by this pending shutdown. All I perceive is selfish leadership more concerned about their and their parties' political power rather than a commitment to genuine problem solving!
Funny how the rich always get their tax cuts, while the cuts have to occur on the backs of those that can least afford it...
Funny how the libbies always talk about on the backs of poor and middle class, 47 % of all filers pay no taxes, another 8% live entirely off the taxpayers,
They don't pay enough taxes to bail me out on a DUI
funny how the "tea baggers" always talk about how the poor dont have anything because they are too lazy to work...if 47% dont have to pay any tax , its because so many dont make enought to pay..
why do you think the priveleged are any more intelligent than the poor...its education that makes you seem more intelligent and as long as we keep our people uneducated there is no competition for those who can afford one....
at least the "libbies" are not WALKING on the backs of the poor...lol
btw...i wouldnt drink and drive and expect the poor to "bail" you out of jail...lol
The corporate elite no longer need a middle class...we're just a little more extreme right wing legislation away from a 2 caste population.
JAY-- okay you knew about it, so you were just talking the libby bs, when you talked about on the backs of, right.
Course you were that is the only libbies do well, bs.
No defense cuts?
Let me get this straight...after the GOP robber barons caused the Great Depression, the Dems initiated the WPA and other gov't stimulus to step in when the private sector couldn't/wouldn't. The downward spiral reversed. The economy started to improve. The GOP got up in arms about communists/socialists etc and pushed through austere cuts. The economy tanked again. Then WWII resulted in more gov't spending/stimulus and the economy went up again. Seems strangely familiar....
No bs artist it was still in the tank when WWII came along or Roosevelt would have bankrupted all together.
You parasites /parasite enablers would keep on spending until the economy just imploded, if we allowed you to.
dang. you must be a genius to come up with that one...the only "parasites" we have are the thieves in the banking, insurance and defense contracting business
No just until the economy was stable and corporations were hiring. You know...promote the general welfare and all. The problem is that corporations are so greedy, there is no need to hire. Profits are skyrocketing just by reducing the work force. Sales are not great (since most consumers can't afford anything), but overhead is so low, profits are soaring. That is not a recipe for national strength. That is greed and will result in a society more and more separate. The income and wealth inequality right now is at historic levels. Unless you want a revolution, that is not good.
And yes the economy was in the tank when WWII came along, because - if you read what I wrote, the GOP enacted austere cuts that starved the recovery.
oh yeah, I missed that genius parasite dig...as someone who has been working since I was 16 (part time), then throughout college (to pay my own way) and then through 18 years of raising my family...all the while not taking a penny from the gov't...oh yeah, I'm a real parasite...
Congress also needs to roll back their last 5% pay raise that they gave themselves last fall.
If the GOP hates stimulus actions so much, can they explain why tax cuts are supposed to work? Tax cuts ARE gov't stimulus.
its all a big LIE...its just a way for the rich to prey upon the poor just as a rancher works his "cattle"
let the "people" pick up the tab for the banks' thieving
How Jay, the middle s class doesn't pay enough in taxes now to bail me out on a DUI/
47& of filers paid nothing, another 8% live entirely off of the tapayers. Maybe the rich should just adopt you, too.
More bull@!$%#, jerry? Don't facts mean anything to you? No, they don't. Maybe if you stop repeating things without researching them...
george washington said in his farewell speech that the "2 party system" would destroy this country....seems the people of 225 years ago were a whole bunch wiser than the idiots we have today
take it back from who?....the richest 1-2%? because thats who own us and they are selling our country out for money....they will simply move on to the next "market" of humans to exploit after they have burned us to the ground
wake up man...the "people" have never run this government...it is representatives for the people who run it and they have always used the "people" as an excuse to make money for themselves until it has become the most lucrative job in the world...ever wonder what the term "national interests" really means?...it means corporations are our national interests and whatever is good for them is supposedly good for the people...that part is a myth and always has been....the rich use the poor to fight and control the world we live in and the rich take the profits while the poor pay them...the congress doesnt represent the people, they represent capitalism and profit...the republican party is the party of the investor class...problem is...the poor are gaining numbers daily and they will outnumber the investor class and then what do you do?....people will learn that this "class" have made most of the population in this country nothing more than sharecroppers....the tea party is too extreme and if you think they are here to stay, you are mistaken....you will see what a fad is...like the cabbage patch dolls or beanie babies or frisbies or hula hoops or the latest game system....we will just have to wait and see....when no one has any value for the life of their fellow man, nothing good can come from it in the end...you will see..lol
I'm more then willing to pay ex Presidents thier medical and retirement benifits when they act like
Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter when they get out of office. Can't say the same for the Bush's.
believes in free enterprise...just how free are you talking about...the freedom to bribe and steal?...i guess that is an enterprise....technically king george and rumsfeld committed "war crimes" with preemptive war...which has been outlawed by most of the world after what hitler did with his
"preemptive wars"....how about torture?....no torture here right....how about no-bid contracts given to the companies you are invested in and running from the shadows....oh yeah...bush is a great example of honesty. loyalty, bravery, and all around demi-god status....absolutely mocking the intent of our constitution and actually "interpreting" it to give dictator like powers...executive orders should be read as imperial decrees but that wouldnt sound as cool would it?
The republicans were awarded the largest electoral victory in 70 years, they campaigned on repealing the insurance farce cutting spending and opposing anything the inept lying quasi socialist in the white house. does.
Now they can do it, we didn't elect them to be civil, polite, compromising or cooperative..
We removed a lot of Republican incumbents in the primaries last year and we will do it again if they start acting like Collins, Snow, Brown and LUgar.
You listening Boehner, you are making a lot of noises like a rino right now, clean up your act or find other work.
Like I said before, where's Robinhood?
Out of what Sewer did they find Eric Cantor----What a lightweight !!!
deficit spending is nothing new, even Reagan knew it and did it often. it's not something new, and we've done it for decades. picking an arbitrary amount of money to cut without really examining spending is ridiculous and irresponsible.
what we have to be careful of is where we cut costs. if we need to loose weight, we don't cut off a hand and claim we lost 2 pounds, we cut the fat intake across the board.
if we really want to get some money, why don't we charge the saudi government for the iraqi war they wanted that we fought. and no, i didn't type that sentence wrong.
Great, another bandaide fix by Mr. Magoo and his entourage: "Leader Harry Reid suggests Congress is moving towards a deal to avoid a government shutdown--at least for the short term. " KEY WORD IS SHORT TERM!!!!! Why can't the Dems ever consider a long-term solution; is it because they are all ADD.
We have a president that want's to spend over 3.5 TRILLION this year and they can't find few Billion to cut and keep each other happy? I wonder when they really need to make the big cuts like 500B, 600B, or 1.5 Trillion, I just wonder where they are going to find numbers like that. I can't understand, this country is on the verge of collapse and these people still can't work together. Our time is running out, we have a debt that will NEVER be repaid and the Fed can't go on for ever printing and buying our debt, can't they see that. How do you give hope to the next generation when this generation has destroyed everything because of GREED.
how many dollars where spent on "why do cows hate dieing" (look it up true gov spending ) and other wasted money and they say we will avoid a shut down. very hi vis advertising looks like to me "look at us we are hard at work (this month) we need a raise in the 3rd spending quarter." everyone vote for the common sense political party be a member make a true difference.
Another short term bandaid, Wonderful
I believe that the Government is spending to much, as a Democrat that is 68 years old and still working it is very painful to go to those Super Markets and see those people collecting Welfare with late model cars parked in the parking lot. Most of them do not look like people that ran into bad luck those people are carring more Jewrly that a Jewerly Store they are growing too fat and at the end we will have to paid for their medical bill.
Welfare was created to help the people that need help it was not created to support women with 5 or 6 kids and no man around, free apartments, free school free medicine and most of the time going in public complaning. I live in New York and you can see a lot of places hiring workers and week after weeks nobody go to apply, it is better to be seated at home and get more than the people that work and paid taxes. I am not talking as a Republican I am a died hard Democrat but there are so many people abusing the system it is a shame!
Ideassoul
That is not just a problem in New York, it is here in the Midwest as well. Remember Octomom, the women who had the litter of kids, she is raking in the money in California. The system will never change because the illegals are going to outnumber us in a few years and there will be nothing left, the american dream is dead and our government is not going to do one thing to stop it.