Government Shutdown Might be Averted
Politico reports:
strong>Threats of a government shutdown< next week had all but disappeared by late Friday as Democrats reacted favorably to a Republican plan that would keep agencies operating past Mar. 4 while making a first down payment toward a larger budget deal.
The two-week peace is only temporary but gives House and Senate leaders through Mar 18 to try to resolve conservative demands for more than $60 billion in spending cuts, all concentrated in the second half of this fiscal year.
A first installment of $4 billion in savings would be part of the deal now and strong>Republicans< have said they will insist on $2 billion more in cuts for each additional week the talks continue past the new deadline. The novel approach is one devised by Speaker strong>John Boehner< (R-Ohio), trying to keep pace with his large freshman class while avoiding the same sort of shutdown that so hurt Republicans in the 1990’s when they confronted then strong>President Bill Clinton<.
strong>Senate Democrats< bitterly resent Boehner’s approach, saying he is holding the government hostage, nibbling away with weekly ransom demands to placate his tea party supporters. But the speaker carefully confined his first demands to the least painful cuts, and in an amusing turnabout, strong>Democrats< rushed to take credit for an idea they had seemed ready to go to war over days before.
“The plan Republicans are floating today sounds like a modified version of what Democrats were talking about,” said a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader strong>Harry Reid< (D-Nev.). “We’re glad they think it’s a good idea.”
About $2.7 billion of the proposed savings would come from rescinding unspent funds, such as water projects and local economic initiatives, earmarked by past Congresses. The remaining third, or $1.24 billion, is attributed to eight terminations, impacting broadband loan subsidies and various smaller education programs, as well as $650 million from a general spending account financed through the highway trust fund.
Many of the reductions are lifted from Obama’s own budget proposals, making it harder for Democrats to protest. And in conference calls this week, Republican leaders have tried to school their freshmen to keep faith with this first step and not bolt suddenly to force a shutdown.
