Boehner Plan: $40B in Cuts

Politico reports:

President Barack Obama warned Tuesday that he would not sign another stopgap spending bill without an agreement first on the 2011 budget, even as Republicans upped the ante, signaling that a $40 billion package of cuts might have the makings of a deal to avert a shutdown Friday.

Speaker John Boehner’s office refused comment, but several individuals, Republican and Democratic, confirmed that the Ohio Republican had raised the $40 billion number at a morning meeting at the White House with the president.

That translates into a $1.048 trillion top line for nonemergency appropriations, an $80 billion reduction from Obama’s 2011 budget request and more importantly, an additional $7 billion on top of the target in House-Senate talks.

Administration officials expressed frustration with the demands, and there are growing complaints the speaker keeps “moving the goal posts” as he tries to appease conservatives in his party.

“It seems every step we take, it’s something just to poke us in the eye,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was part of the same White House meeting. “They are not trying to arrive at the finish line. It appears that they’re going to do everything they can to satisfy the tea party.”

Nonetheless, this is the first time that Boehner has been so specific, and later Tuesday, he and Reid met behind closed doors in an apparent effort to get the budget talks back on track.

White House officials were frustrated not to be included after weeks of attending what have been three-way talks. But Obama took advantage of a televised press briefing to very publicly say that if the two leaders don’t reach agreement, he wants them back at the White House on Wednesday for more discussions.