Durbin: No Cuts Over $10.5 Billion
Reuters reports:
Assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin drew a line in the sand on Sunday in his party's budget battle with Republicans, who are pushing deep spending cuts to trim the federal deficit.
Durbin, one of President Barack Obama's top allies in Congress, said he opposed going beyond the $10.5 billion in domestic, non-defense discretionary spending cuts that Democrats have backed.
Republicans want $61 billion in spending reductions.
"I think we've pushed this to the limit," Durbin told the "Fox News Sunday" television program as Congress and the White House prepared for another week of showdowns that threaten a government shutdown.
"To go any further is to push more kids out of school," Durbin said. "It stops the investment of infrastructure, which kills good-paying jobs right here in the United States.'
"I'm willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic discretionary spending," Durbin said.
Putting further cuts in non-defense, domestic discretionary spending off limits would force lawmakers to focus instead on areas such as the Pentagon, foreign aid and so-called entitlements, such as the Social Security retirement program.
Representative Jeb Hensarling, a member of the House Republican leadership, said he would be willing to work with Democrats on entitlement reform. But Hensarling said Obama has failed to take the lead.
"Instead, all he presents us is trillions of dollars of more debt," said Hensarling, who appeared with Durbin on "Fox News Sunday."
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