Boehner: $33B in Cuts 'Not Enough'

The Hill reports:

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Monday that a spending accord with the Senate and White House must contain more than the $33 billion in immediate cuts Democrats have said the two sides already agreed upon.

“Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I’ve made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors. That’s unacceptable, ” Boehner said in a statement Monday afternoon.

In an apparently coordinated move, Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) all issued statements indicating that an agreement to fund the federal government beyond Friday’s deadline was not close at hand. All three were sent shortly after White House spokesman Jay Carney announced that President Obama had invited Boehner, Rogers and senior Democrats to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the spending negotiations.

Boehner has previously denied Democratic claims that the sides had agreed on a top-line figure of $33 billion in cuts, but Monday’s statement was his clearest signal yet that the cuts would have to be deeper to win GOP support. Vice President Biden has suggested that the number could change depending on the inclusion of policy restrictions that Republicans have demanded but Democrats have opposed. Among them are measures to defund the healthcare law, Planned Parenthood and the implementation of environmental regulations.

The Republicans accused Democrats of pushing budget “gimmicks” to achieve deeper spending cuts, in what one GOP aide said was a reference to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s push to include changes to mandatory spending programs, in addition to discretionary spending cuts that Republicans, in the final agreement.

“Senator Reid is attempting to abuse the budget process and limit the ability of Appropriations negotiators to complete their work – dictating the use of gimmicks and phony accounting to sneak more spending through the Congress and by the American people,” Rogers said.

Boehner’s office has said the Speaker is trying to arrange a White House meeting for Tuesday but that one hasn’t been scheduled.