Snip ~ from article below ~ House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said a deal would have to be struck by Thursday to make the March 18 deadline because it will take at least a week to draft the legislation and move it through both chambers.
March 6, 2011
Federal funding may be done in 2-week increments
Congress could end up funding the government in two-week increments to avert a shutdown because lawmakers can't agree on a long-term budget plan.
Lawmakers passed a two-week budget on March 4 and are now facing a new deadline, March 18. Yet Republicans and Democrats are no closer to settling on a plan to pay for the remaining six months of the fiscal year, despite intervention by the White House.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said if no long-term deal is reached by March 18, Republicans are prepared to keep passing two-week funding measures that would cut $2 billion per week. At that rate, Republicans would still be able to achieve their campaign pledge to cut $100 billion from President Obama's proposed 2011 budget, Cantor said.
Democrats might be forced to go along with the GOP's short-term proposal out of fear that they would be blamed for a government shutdown if they refuse.
The two parties have so far gotten nowhere in negotiations for a long-term deal.
During a brief meeting late last week between Republicans and Democrats and headed by Vice President Biden, Democrats proposed trimming $6.5 billion from Obama's 2011 budget proposal, but Republicans rejected it because it was $55 billion short of what the GOP wants.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the Democratic proposal "indefensible and unacceptable."
Democrats were equally dismissive of the GOP plan, which would cut $61.5 billion across dozens of agencies and programs and includes provisions to defund the health care reform law and Planned Parenthood, among other things.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the Republican proposal "one of the worst pieces of legislation that we have drafted in the history of this Congress," noting its wide spectrum of cuts targeting poison-control centers, border security and the Head Start program.
Reid wants to hold separate votes on both the Democratic and Republican bills next week, even though there is no chance either measure will pass, he said. Once the two bills fail, Reid said, the two sides will be forced to craft a compromise.
Biden, meanwhile, left the country over the weekend even though Obama had tapped him to mediate the budget talks. Biden is traveling for the week to Finland, Russia and Moldova, where he "will discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues," according to the White House.
By the time Biden returns, however, it may be too late for him to deal with domestic spending issues.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said a deal would have to be struck by Thursday to make the March 18 deadline because it will take at least a week to draft the legislation and move it through both chambers.
"If we don't reach agreement by next Thursday, we will not, I think, be able to get a bill ready to pass by Friday the 18th," Hoyer said.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/politics/congress/2011/03/federal-funding-may-be-done-2-week-increments
Federal funding may be done in 2-week increments
Congress could end up funding the government in two-week increments to avert a shutdown because lawmakers can't agree on a long-term budget plan.
Lawmakers passed a two-week budget on March 4 and are now facing a new deadline, March 18. Yet Republicans and Democrats are no closer to settling on a plan to pay for the remaining six months of the fiscal year, despite intervention by the White House.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said if no long-term deal is reached by March 18, Republicans are prepared to keep passing two-week funding measures that would cut $2 billion per week. At that rate, Republicans would still be able to achieve their campaign pledge to cut $100 billion from President Obama's proposed 2011 budget, Cantor said.
Democrats might be forced to go along with the GOP's short-term proposal out of fear that they would be blamed for a government shutdown if they refuse.
The two parties have so far gotten nowhere in negotiations for a long-term deal.
During a brief meeting late last week between Republicans and Democrats and headed by Vice President Biden, Democrats proposed trimming $6.5 billion from Obama's 2011 budget proposal, but Republicans rejected it because it was $55 billion short of what the GOP wants.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the Democratic proposal "indefensible and unacceptable."
Democrats were equally dismissive of the GOP plan, which would cut $61.5 billion across dozens of agencies and programs and includes provisions to defund the health care reform law and Planned Parenthood, among other things.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the Republican proposal "one of the worst pieces of legislation that we have drafted in the history of this Congress," noting its wide spectrum of cuts targeting poison-control centers, border security and the Head Start program.
Reid wants to hold separate votes on both the Democratic and Republican bills next week, even though there is no chance either measure will pass, he said. Once the two bills fail, Reid said, the two sides will be forced to craft a compromise.
Biden, meanwhile, left the country over the weekend even though Obama had tapped him to mediate the budget talks. Biden is traveling for the week to Finland, Russia and Moldova, where he "will discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues," according to the White House.
By the time Biden returns, however, it may be too late for him to deal with domestic spending issues.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said a deal would have to be struck by Thursday to make the March 18 deadline because it will take at least a week to draft the legislation and move it through both chambers.
"If we don't reach agreement by next Thursday, we will not, I think, be able to get a bill ready to pass by Friday the 18th," Hoyer said.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/politics/congress/2011/03/federal-funding-may-be-done-2-week-increments
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