Dems Agree to $38B in Cuts

Politico reports:

The government will shut down today, unless Republicans do what their base loathes, but Washington knows is necessary: strike a compromise with Democrats and President Barack Obama.

That’s what it comes down to Friday, as the current stopgap funding measure expires at midnight, placing the immediate employment of 800,000 workers in jeopardy, and both political parties at huge risk a year and a half before a presidential election.

Obama, who made a late public entry into the fight, said he expects “an answer in the morning” from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as to whether Congress can agree on how many tens of billions of dollars should be cut from federal ledgers from now until the end of September.

On Friday morning, Reid told reporters that the latest number floated was $78 billion in cuts from Obama’s fiscal 2011 proposal — or about $38 billion in real cuts.

Staff negotiators worked until 3 a.m. Friday, and all sides seem to indicate they are very close to a final number in terms of cuts, but the negotiations continue to be hung up on social policy riders, most notably funding for Planned Parenthood.

Republicans continue to insist on cutting off funds for Planned Parenthood, turning the battle to fund the government into part of the overarching culture war on Capitol Hill. Republicans say bringing Planned Parenthood into the fray is a spending issue, as they told voters they’d concentrate on jobs and the economy, not cultural issues.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, said, “While nothing will be decided until everything is decided, the largest issue is still spending cuts. The American people want to cut spending to help the private sector create jobs – and the Democrats that run Washington don’t.”