WASHINGTON – The top Democrat on Capitol Hill on Thursday blamed a threatened government shutdown on House Speaker John Boehner's insistence on keeping conservative policy prescriptions for the environment and abortion in a funding bill that must be passed by midnight Friday.
Amid virtually round-the-clock wrangling, the White House called key lawmakers to another meeting with President Barack Obama at midday Thursday.
In the meantime, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that late-night negotiations have largely produced an agreement on how much to cut spending but that Republicans are insisting on rewriting the Clean Air Act and injecting the volatile abortion issue into the spending debate.
"The issue is ideology, not numbers," Reid said. "The two main issues that are holding this matter up are ... reproductive rights and clean air. These matters have no place on a budget bill."
Among the abortion battles on the bill is a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions in Washington, D.C., an effort to restrict U.S. aid to overseas family planning groups that perform abortions and cutting off Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of abortion assistance, from taxpayer money that it uses to offer contraception and health care for women.
Reid also rejected a proposal by House Republicans to blend money for financing the government for a week with a full-year Pentagon budget, adding $12 billion in additional budget cuts to the $10 billion enacted so far in two prior stopgap measures.
Democrats insist on a longer-term solution and say the short-term approach is a political maneuver meant to blame them if the government if forced to close its doors on Saturday.
Obama emerged from the negotiations late Wednesday night to declare that differences between Republicans and Democrats had narrowed somewhat. But at this point, only urgent action can avert a shutdown of much of the government at midnight Friday, he said.
"It's going to require a sufficient sense of urgency," Obama said, "to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown."
Even a brief shutdown could affect a wide range of Americans, from troops fighting abroad who are awaiting their pay to tourists planning trips to national parks.
The move by Boehner to advance a one-week interim budget measure angered his Democratic negotiating counterparts and came after negotiations at the White House moved slower than had been hoped.
Obama told reporters that his differences with the House Republicans were narrowing but not resolved.
"I thought the meetings were frank, they were constructive, and what they did was narrow the issues and clarify the issues that are still outstanding," Obama said. "I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown. But it's going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from all parties involved."
After the late-night White House session, Boehner, R-Ohio, said: "We did have a productive conversation this evening. We do have some honest differences, but I do think we made some progress. ... There's an attempt on both sides to continue to work together to try to resolve this."
Boehner's move appeared aimed at shifting political blame if a shutdown occurs, but the announcement of Thursday's vote angered Democrats who felt talks were progressing.
Democrats also said privately that the White House was infuriated after Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas — the No. 4 House Republican — accused Obama of leaving the talks to focus on his re-election campaign in official appearances in Pennsylvania and New York City.
Obama had already ruled out the weeklong measure Republicans intend to push through the House, and Senate Democrats have labeled it a non-starter. Republican officials said the details of the bill could yet change. But passage of any interim measure is designed to place the onus on the Democratic-controlled Senate to act if a shutdown is to be avoided.
At issue is legislation needed to keep the day-to-day operations of federal agencies going through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year. A Democratic-led Congress failed to complete the must-pass spending bills last year, setting the stage for Republicans assuming power in the House in January to pass a measure with $61 billion in cuts that even some GOP appropriators saw as unworkable. It was rejected in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Meanwhile, Boehner told ABC News in an interview that he's in lockstep with tea partiers demanding severe budget cuts.
"Listen, there's no daylight between the tea party and me," he said. "What they want is, they want us to cut spending. They want us to deal with this crushing debt that's going to crush the future for our kids and grandkids. There's no daylight there."
Separately Wednesday, the White House used its unmatched megaphone to emphasize the stakes involved in the negotiations, arranging a briefing for the presidential press corps on the ramifications of a partial government shutdown.
The officials who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, under rules set by White House aides eager to apply pressure to congressional negotiators.
The officials said military personnel at home and abroad would receive one week's pay instead of two in their next checks. Among those affected would be troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and the region around Libya.
Tax audits would be suspended — welcome news to some, no doubt — but there were unhappy tidings for others. Income tax returns filed on paper would pile up at the IRS, and refunds would be delayed as a result.
National parks would close, as would the Smithsonian Institution and its world-class collection of museums clustered along the National Mall within sight of the Capitol. Officials were less clear about the Cherry Blossom Festival, scheduled for this weekend in Washington.
As for the broader talks, it appeared progress had been made on spending cuts demanded by Republicans, though Democrats warned that a series of unrelated GOP policy provisions remain unresolved.
Democrats have already ruled out agreeing to stop funding the year-old health care overhaul or to deny Planned Parenthood all federal money. And Reid has said he will not agree to any of the curbs Republicans want to place on the Environmental Protection Agency.
While the political wheels turned, hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the Capitol, calling for budget cuts and a shutdown, if necessary, to get them.
"Shut the sucker down," one yelled, and the crowd repeatedly chanted, "Shut it down."
10 comments:
I totally agree with Reid when he says that the issues of reproductive rights and clean air don't belong in the budget bill; if the Republicans want to fight those battles, they can do it somewhere else and avoid a completely unnecessary government shutdown. I'm really relieved that the Democrats have decided not to budge on the issues of abortion, clean air and health care, though. Even though there are many people who disagree with the current policies, I just don't think there are near enough to justify such drastic actions that would only continue to hold back our government from making real progress.
Haven't we cut enought already? Kinda makes you think were is all this money coming from and going. It surpirses me that it came to this. Right now while they are playing the *pointing fingers* and blaming each other game they are losing time and more money. My question is they already cut 10 billion and now another 12? How much do they honeslty need? Possibly 61 billion *if it gets passed* Just me John can go green all he wants but in my opinion abortion is getting on my nerves. This topic should be over with already. Funding it is a bad problem as it is but fighting for it is even... You catch my drift.
They do need to come to a consensus on what bonds in the budget. The republican congress has found massive cuts and will gain the public favor. The motives of the governments spending plan is entirely politically based, and I would call myself in favor of making the government "smaller". On the contrary, I also personally think the clean air bill needs to stay.
A bill was drafted in the House that would keep all paychecks going out to the people who need them most, like the military, and keep the Government running for 90 days time. However, The President said he would veto this if it came to his desk. So at this point, any shutdown in the next 90 days can in fact be blamed on Mr Obama himself.
Personally, I don't know what would be best for them to choose. But isn't it kind of their job to make these decisions? Because at this point, this argument between parties is causing a lot of grief. We have people fighting for us overseas, whether you agree with it or not, and if this thing isn't figured out soon they will hafto keep fighting with a cut in pay and their families will suffer for it. We have people here in our country who are working to keep the economy moving and to support their families on an average basis, and their jobs will be postponed. If a government shutdown is really necessary then it better happen quick. Stop saying 'we're making progress' and actually do something about this.
This is embarrassing. This is unnecessary. This is wrong. Yet another example of how unrealistic adherence to ideals will lead to extremely complicated situations especially in the sphere government. I cannot but help place the blame for this situation solely in the hands of the Tea Party conservative minority in the Houses of Representatives. I would think that these individuals would realize that threatening to withhold necessary funds for the function of government will most likely spell their demise in the next election. I admire their zeal but this is grossly misplaced to say the least. They must realize that a politician cannot achieve all of their goals using the very people that elected them as hostages is a heated situation. This is most likely not to be the last time that the Tea Party minority will attempt to force their ideology and agenda on the entirety of the American people; I can only hope that the next time such a situation arises in the halls of Congress that the Tea Party will not use hostile tactics to achieve their agenda or they most likely not live to see another term.
The whole thing is nothing more then the parties not agreeing with each other, and not cooperating to get the job done. Yes Obama stopped the shut down but it still is not resolving the issue of what the argument is all about.
The america government is run by a bunch of idiots. This budget has been delayed 7 times..... If I delayed making an order at bahama bucks once, because my coworker and I couldn't agree on what the right definition of a "small" cup was, I would be fired... The american public elected these officials to the place their in, so that they could DO THE JOB. Bare with me, but I think if you are hired to do a job, you are required to do the job...
But I guess if you make the laws, you don't have to follow them.
Great example for the rest of us.......
so dumb
6 months late on what is to be their job? nice. If the gov shut down I wonder what the replications would be. Of course,I suppose life would go on, maybe not civilized life.
Wow. This is a real eye opener seeing what America is going to have to do to stop increasing our debt. It's a blessing to see it though because it shows that my generation has some big issues about to arise and the current generation actually cares enough to do something about it.
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