Obama Calls Late Night Budget Meet

Politico reports:

With less than 60 hours to go before the federal government shuts down, House Republicans announced they were putting forth yet another short-term stopgap measure that cuts $12 billion in spending over one week, while funding the Defense Department until the end of September.

President Barack Obama, who has objected to another short term spending bill, made last minute plans to meet Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) Wednesday night at 8:45 in the Oval Office.

The one-week continuing resolution is a last-ditch effort by House Republicans to show that they are trying to keep the government open, but cutting spending at a rate six times higher than their last continuing resolution. Democrats have signaled it’s a non-starter.

The legislation is also an attempt by Boehner (Ohio) and his top lieutenants to shift blame for any shutdown onto Obama, Reid (D-Nev.) and Democrats by daring them not to pass the bill. White House officials told reporters on Wednesday morning that 800,000 federal employees would be affected by a government shutdown. Tens of thousands of military personnel, including those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, won’t get paid either.

Funding for the federal government runs out on Friday night, and events today showed few new signs of hope, with Obama out of town and a top-line number outlining the size of any 2011 spending cut not yet agreed to by Senate and House negotiators.

Boehner, who has taken on the role of Republican chief negotiator during negotiations with Reid and Obama, said that the House Republican Conference’s “goal is real clear: we are going to fight for the largest spending cuts we can and the policy riders that go with them.”

“I like the president personally. We get along well,” Boehner told reporters after the meeting as part of a broad to shift blame for any shutdown to Democrats.

Boehner is scheduled to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday to try to lay out his case to average Americans, although he privately has told his colleagues that Democrats would “win” politically if the government ceases to function.

Republicans are optimistic about their chances to to pass a week-long continuing resolution, which would, in a sense, shift some fight to the Senate but also increased the likelihood of the first government shutdown in more than 15 years.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said GOP leaders would not need Democrats to pass the new CR, reflecting efforts by top Republicans to pressure their members to fall into line. Fifty-four Republicans voted against the previous CR, although a number of those lawmakers now say they will vote for this latest funding bill.

“I don’t need one Democrat,” McCarthy asserted.

Negotiators, though, are saying that they are making progress on a measure that would fill federal coffers until Sept. 30, when the 2011 fiscal year ends. Boehner said “we are making progress, but we are not there yet, not by a long shot.”