Congress Agrees to New Stopgap
CNN reports:
As the standoff continues over funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year, both parties agreed on Friday to move ahead with a three-week stopgap bill that would cut an additional six billion dollars and avoid a potential federal shutdown.
The measure, introduced by House Republicans, eliminates or reduces money for 25 government programs, saving $3.5 billion. Republicans chose from a list of programs President Obama wants cut or eliminated his 2012 budget and from items Senate Democrats proposed in a bill that failed earlier this week.
The bill also rescinds funding that U.S. Department of Commerce never spent on the 2010 U.S. Census and eliminates $2.6 billion in earmarks that were extended in last year's spending bill.
The House is expected to vote on the bill early next week and send it to the Senate for a vote.
House Speaker John Boehner said the purpose of the bill was to "give the American people another round of spending cuts as they wait for the Democrats who run Washington – in the Senate and White House – to determine a position other than the status quo."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he supports the three week bill, but argued it was the House Republicans who needed to come forward with a compromise position that moved off their insistence that Congress pass the package of $61 billion in cuts in the House bill. That measure failed to pass the Senate earlier this week.
"If Republicans are serious about cutting the deficit, they should be open to new solutions and ideas instead of clinging to extreme policy positions. It's time to work together toward a long-term solution that makes smart, responsible cuts but doesn't threaten our economic future," Reid said.
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