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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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The 1.4t (number is now 1.6t) amount someone mentioned is the amount of deficit spending this year, that is we are spending 1.6t more than receipts. The White House budget is 3.8t for 2011 which means we are spending 72% more then receipts. If you were making 100k per year and spending 172k how long could you last before bankruptcy ? Congress is proposing cuts of 60b or 1.6% of the budget. When you are spending 72% more than you are taking in, cutting 1.6% is like p***sing in the ocean. We spend more on defence than the next 17 counties combined. Will someone please get a handle on this before its too late.
Richard,
That's exactly my point. How do we get the word out to the people? How do we start our Revolution? It kills me to see so many people who are so clueless as to how close we are from waking up one morning and find out we are Greece and no one wan't to BUY OUR DEBT.
Jerry, when there's 72 million registered Democrats and 55 million registered republicans how do you figure than will happen. You think you are pissed off... after the BS you guys are pulling no Democrat will be sitting at home. Many sat home in 2010, not in 2012. Do the math...
Just watch Wisconsin....the firefigthers and police voted with the republicans, now they are picketing against what the republican's are doing. Think next time those guys will be voting republican...
You are correct. Unfortunately the democrats have already successfully bought all the votes they need by propping up unions, trying to make ILLEGAL immigrants citizens, and not making 1/2 the country pay any federal income taxes producing the worst case of class warfare that this country has ever seen. I believe we are the past the point of no return. The productive component of society can only support freeloaders for so long until they decide to take their money and run to another country, then where is all the money to support all the entitlements going to come from. The riots in Greece will look like Disneyland compared to what will surely come to us by creating a dependency state.
Good riddance to the rich right winged nut bags... let em go to Canada!
Some of the cuts are not going to benefit the people who really do need the services they want to make drastic cuts in,heating assistance is a must,what do they expect these people to do in the winter,freeze?efence cuts are something we simply cannot afford to let happen especially with the way things are going in the world today we need to keep up with the most technolocily and most sophisticated eqeuipment for our armed forces and for the country it's self.s.s. dwindling down can also easily be stopped,the deficit could easily be wiped out as well as all the financial problems the states are having as well.Legalize marijuana and withing 2 years no more national deficit no more broke states,no more dwindling s.s. funds among a host of many other things we do not need to make cuts is and that are much needed programs.It could be easily done and easily regulated much as alcahol and tobaco is plus there would be no more mega billions being watsed trying to stop it as well as wasted man power.That moeny and man power could beused to fight the war on the dangerous drugs such as meth,heroin and prescritption pain killers which have taken over the number one slot frommeth in this country.It's the only real logical solution for the vast najoritry of our problems here.Study's done in country's that have legalized it have shown drastic and significant drops in drug related crimes as well as sigbnificant drops on the numbers of teens using it as well,plus when compared to alcachol and tobaco products it is virtually harmles to the human body especialy when used wit the vaporisor methind and or in cooking.It' something that really needs to be done and soon before we get further into debt
Maybe we should also legalize prostitution and tax it!!!!! Naw the politicians wouldn`t want to pay the tax. Seems like smoking marijuana affects spelling.
The reduction in the heating subsidy only brings it back to the level of two years ago. It had doubled under Obama.
How hard is it to spend less than you take in???? Our country needs Dave Ramsey`s Total Money Makeover. His book has sure changed my life. It`s really not that hard, you just need to do it.
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.
Does that sound familiar or what? When they were bent on shoving the healthcare package down our throats, I seem to remember Pelosi saying that if we wanted to know what was in it, they would have to pass it first.
What goes around, comes around.
Tennesse,
For once get your right wing blinders off and look at the facts. The CBO, a bi-partisan organization, consisting of accounting and financial experts went over the HC Bill and concluded considerable cost savings in the next 10 to 15 years. The CBO is the same organization that the republicans have used, over and over. Why can't you right wing nut cases stop listening to Limbaugh and Beck, self absorbed morons, and pay attention to the facts. The "HC bill" consists mostly of republican ideas, but because it was Obama and Pelosi that pushed it through, it's not good?! Give me a break. The rebugnants of Boehner and McConnell, sat on the sidelines laughing, thinking that the same thing would happen this time as it happened under Clinton. Only to realize that Pelosi and Obama were much more crafty and got the bill passed. Then they saw that their stupid strategy failed. Instead of jumping in and taking credit for many of the Bill's provisions (since they were from republicans), and working to make it better for us all, they were completely left out. How do they remedy their inactivity?? Well, they had to save face, so McConnell is now on a "repeal the bill" kick. It's not going to happen. (By the way, a side note: Is there some resentment with Mr. McConnell since Boehner got his leadership position in the house while McConnell didn't get it in the senate???? I think so...,. That's why there's now less rhetoric coming from Boehner while McConnell is still spitting nails--He wants that Senate Majority position so bad it's screwing his mind up....) Anyway, there are too many provisions in that bill that are good for the middle class, and for the country, and yes the individual mandate is one of them. This mandate was crafted by one of the former Republican presidential nominees (he signed into law in his home state). If Boehner and, especially, McConnell had any b**ls, they would admit that they underestimated Pelosi's and Obama's resolve to get the bill passed, take the lumps and move on; and now work to modify the bill so that it better fits this country's needs. Repeal will not happen. MOVE ON!!
Confused
Yep,you are.
The CBO ONLY works with the numbers that are given to them. They do not go out and find their own numbers.
So as the saying goes---Garbage in,Garbage out.
If these so called political statesmen, who are looking out for the interest of our great country, did their job and seriously want to reduce the deficit, then the last BIG BIPARTISAN bill should never have passed. That's the bill that extended tax cuts for the wealthy and extended unemployment benefits. Both of those actions serve to increase the deficit. Obama was happy cause he got to extend unemployment benfits; Bohner and McConnel were happy cause they got to help their rich buddies. The screw job was to the middle class and the U-S-of-A. So, you lefties and you righties, stop your squabbling and get after your elected politicians, in unison, and let them know that party political BS has to stop. Insted of pouring pages and pages of crap on these Blogs, write pages and pages of letters to the politicians TELLING them that the people of this country are tired of party-squabling BS and that they get to work!!!
Here's a radical idea. Next election, every incombent is voted out and we start with a new cadre....Can't be any worse than it is now.....
There are no statesmen, just greedy politicians.
I agree, we are supposed to be a representative democracy the only problem is when it comes to income we are far from that. I find it hard to believe that millionares can truly understand what an average working american is going through.
Lets start with our borders, Stop the sponging ILLEGALS from getting our tax dollars to survive on, that would save several BILLION dollars just for starters!
Don't give in Dems. Massive cuts will only hurt our economy and our country. Republican economic theories are harmful and that is all they are theories. Will I personally am tired of being part of economic experiments. John B says massive cuts would create certainty in wall street and create jobs. But he failed to explain how. All it really creates is the certainty that the government will buy less from private sector companies and there will be less money going into economy. Investors who invest in companies they know the government buys from will drop their shares and there will less money going into the economy. It is sad that republicans ignore the impact of their economic policies for the last 8 years, and than lie to american people about why things are the way they are, and blame everything on big government. If you compare the number of federal employees to the number of working americans one can see that the government has not grown at all(look it up), the government has grown with population. In 2003, 450 economists, including ten Nobel Prize laureate, signed the Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts, sent to President Bush stating that "these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook... will reduce the capacity of the government to finance Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as investments in schools, health, infrastructure, and basic research... [and] generate further inequalities in after-tax income." Dear republicans and teapartiers please stop believing the lies.
That`s right, SPEND, SPEND, SPEND, like there`s no tomorrow!!!!!!! If you made 100k a year, and spent 172k a year, the amount the presidents budget is over the income, how long until you are bankrupt? Not long I would guess. I personally don`t want to saddle my grankids with this much debt. This is the first generation that is leaving our country in a worse state than we got it in. Shame on us!!!!!!!!
I did not say spend spend spend. I said look at how we really got here and quit believing all the lies. Why do you think we spend more than we make? It might have something to do with a certain republican economic policy which i highlighted at the end of my post.
Politicians have spent more than we take in for years. Both sides. After the revoltionary war. President Washington, who was a great general and leader, but not an economist got suckered into deficit spending while Jefferson was out of the country. When he got back he blew a gasket and got it straightened out. Look at our national budget from the beginning and you will see that we didn`t participate in deficit spending for a long time. Don`t have the numbers in front of me to give you a specific year, but deficit spending is realitivly new. I`m not saying that spending less than we take in isn`t going to be difficult, but sacrifices will have to be made by EVERYONE to make this country what it can be. It is not just a republican policy that put us here. All parties are responsible.
Chris - Don't believe for a moment the oil companies aren't drilling on our soil as much as they can. We just don't have a lot more production...even the oil fields in Alaska in the big picture don't amount to anything. Want to reduce alliance on foreign oil, go nuclear.....I know the right likes to think Europe;s all screwed up, but they produce 80% of their fuel with nuclear..think they are hurt with what's going on in the middle east...hardly.
Agreed Don. Nuclear would be a huge help. What is ironic is, we design the plants and sell them to Europe, but we can`t build them here because of the enviro greenie weenies. I say common sense people take our nation back, and start doing the right thing.
I drove through Illinois about 4 years ago and the oil pumps were stopped, when the price of gas went through the roof, they were all pumping. Go figure.
PLEASE SHUT IT DOWN. Then everybody will realize that we do not need most of the government and that it actually impedes economic activity. Most government jobs are just make work jobs. They pass rules to make us fill out forms, so they can have jobs processing forms.
Please shut it down
I was wrong about the proposed two week CR. If the GOP and the Democrats want to base the budget for the rest of the year, on the two week CR. I support it.
Hey, all of you economic idiots commenting here, GO TO SCHOOL! Anyone with a little knowledge knows that you don't cut spending during a recession. You get through it, THEN cut back. The Republicans should be tried for treason for trying to further harm this country and its middle class, knowingly. Unfortunately, they know that they can count on you sheeple to brainlessly regurgitate their lies. Their only intentions are to keep blame on Dems, when the true responsible party likes red, and to transfer more money from the middle class to the wealthy. And you idiots fall for it! My god, turn your brains on, if available.
When your bank account is empty, do you keep writing checks, or do you just get out another credit card and max it out with interest fees that will not allow you to repay the debt. The only thing after that, is to default on everything and declare bankruptcy. I don't know much, but that doesn't seem logical to me and that is exactly what our government is doing. Run out of money, lets just print some more or better yet, borrow more from China and mortgage the country. Both sides, not just republicans need to be tried for treason.
Isn`t that the American way???? Spend more than you make for stuff that you will throw away in a year??? Don`t we all need cars that we can`t afford??? Houses that are too big, so we can keep up with the Joneses??? Oh yeah, the Jonses are broke. I refuse to participate. And I agree, both side need to be tried for treason.
If someone spends 20 million dollars of their own money to try to get elected to a senate seat do you think they are going to worry about their little salary. One condition about someone serving should is that they should not benifit from that position in any shape or forn
I agree. Doesn't anybody look at history? This same thing was done in 1937 and caused a double dip which was not fixed until the giant stimulus package called WWII.
Wolfpack - Does what happened in 2008 have any simularities to 1929? And did the government step in back then. Get a book on the depression of 1929 and read it. What you'll find is that in 1929 the government didn't step in....and the lesson from that, it should have...
Whether you like it or not the financial markets collapsed in 2008...you had 1929 all over again, with one exception, the government stepped in. Why because all the economists who studied 1929 said the government needed to.. I don't like it any more than you, but wishing it didn't happen, or hoping for a different outcome, when you would follow what the government did in 1929, is like sticking you head in the sand.
You must be from the school of Keynesian economics because your history is wrong. The great depression was caused by the policies of the federal reserve and significantly lengthened and worsened by the mass expansion of government by FDR, whose continued entitlement programs have significantly contributed to our current debt crisis.
Ever hear of the Depression of 1920? Probably not, because Harding made the correct choice of letting the market correct itself and only assisting the recovery by rapidly downsizing government thus shifting more resources to the private sector to expedite the recovery. This depression only lasted a year and a half and didn't put us on the path to bankruptcy.
The market should be allowed to correct itself when it needs to. Otherwise you are just playing a guessing game regarding when to inflate (pump more money) into the economy and when to reel it back in. All you are doing is devaluing our money, extending the economic downturn, and worst of all creating behavior patterns where people don't make smart economic decisions like saving their money and always being prepared for economic hardships because they think the government and federal reserve will solve all their problems.
Any compramise is a good one people. Better than a shutdown...
Christine,
You are correct. Just like you don't cut taxes in a time of war. But I guess nobody thinks about this as the government did that during the previous administration for the first time in history.
It worked so well. (sarcasm)
after they are done sticking it up each others butt maybe they can get some jobs going and get the freakin gas lowered.. i would really like to know why gas went up already with aprils oil. funny isn't it. then they will go up again because they can.
Sometimes you have to save the idiots from themselves.
If the $60 billion in cuts is "dead on arrival" then let the first part of the shut down be the salary checks and expense checks for members of Congress, all members of their staffs, the President and all members of his / her staff including the new gay social secretary and the heat, lights, air condidtioning, water etc in Congress and the White House. Then we might see some of those folks get serious about moving forward and doing the people's business which is to reduce spending and cut the size of government. Reid barely escaped the voters wrath in spite of Nevada having a retarded economy and now he is back to the tax and spend liberal Demwit policies that have gotten us into this jam. BO Hussein Osama has never run a hot dog stand so he has no clue about anything economic (or just anything for that matter). We are screwed!
What`s interesting is that all of you people think that Politicians solve problems but you are wrong they create them, I guarantee you that most of you who are strong enough and can resist bribery and have excellent Management skills can eliminate the problems that hurts the current Gov`t.
But the Main problem is Greed and Corruption
The government "For the people by the people" shut down long ago, nothing but pirates now!
Roger that!!!
Its amazing how these right winged idiots are so quick to draw hard lines on the poor but sit in silence while the rich and corporations who make billions off tax breaks, loopholes and cheap overseas labor get a pass. They wont talk about the billions spent on buying elections while we cry broke as a nation. They wont talk about the subsidized health care politicians get while the average American cant go to the doctor. They wont speak about the Billions in foreign aid but bitch about domestic welfare. They don't speak about the billions spent per day to pay for ill-advised wars. These people don't love America or Americans. They ignored the Bush stimulus plans and bailouts as he left the country in ashes, but complain of the cost of putting out the fire. You people are hypocrits and no one with a brain is listening to your Fox inspired rhetoric. We see you!
Subsidized health care. Check this out!
Don't forget to check out the video under perks in the bottom left corner of the first page of text. Read the text too.
Ok, I tried, but this web site apparently won't let me enter the link. Just type Office of Attending Physician of the U.S. Congress into your search engine. Diane Sawyer and ABC News did a video clip on this in the past.
Dang, i was hoping they would shutdown. that would reduce the budget alot
Lmfao Richard....... I love a poignant statement in response to a heartfelt outpouring of liberal blood! That was priceless!
Wow, what a change in philosopy.
Please note the comment by a senior Democratic aide who 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.
Where was this senior Democratic aide when the Dems pushed through the 2,000+ page National Health bill in late-2009 with few legislators even having a chance to study the Cliff Notes version. Perhaps a bill that impacts 1/7 of our economy really did need to have the details examined.
Maybe next time.