Vice President Biden has been tapped by his boss to referee budget talks between congressional Republicans and Democrats, who are miles apart on how to fund the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. Senate Democrats said they are not only relying on the White House to oversee negotiations, they are expecting administration officials to craft the long-term budget deal.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats will supply President Obama and White House staff with ideas, “and we expect them to incorporate them in a seven-month offer they will bring to the negotiations.”
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Obama said in a statement Wednesday he is “calling on Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress to begin meeting immediately with the vice president, my chief of staff, and budget director so we can find common ground on a budget that makes sure we are living within our means.”
Obama’s announcement came after Congress cleared a spending bill that would keep the government running only until March 18.
With a little more than two weeks to come up with a compromise, both parties spent Wednesday trying to blame the other for a shutdown that might ensue if they can’t strike a deal by then.
Republicans refused to commit to Biden’s mediation session and are instead calling on Senate Democrats to put forward their own spending plan.
“Americans have a right to know where the Senate Democrats’ plan is to cut spending and fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year,” Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday.
Democrats say Republicans would be responsible for a shutdown because they insisted on a two-week spending measure that does not provide adequate time to negotiate a deal on a long-term budget plan.
“It’s going to take superhuman help from the White House as well as congressional leaders to achieve a new spending bill for the remainder of the year in just two weeks,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said.
The Senate Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the GOP-written measure to fund the government for two weeks beyond March 4, when a stopgap measure expires. The Republican bill, which passed 91-9, slashes $4 billion in spending by eliminating earmarks and programs Obama had excised from his 2012 budget request.
The House earlier this month passed a Republican measure to fund the government for the remainder of the year. That legislation cuts $61.5 billion in spending and includes provisions Democrats oppose, such as the elimination of funding for the health care reform law, public radio and public television as well as Planned Parenthood, among other things. Senate Democrats called the bill “a non-starter.”
Senate Democratic leaders suggested Wednesday that compromise may be found in a Government Accountability Office report released this week outlining billions of dollars that are wasted on overlapping programs.
“These are the kinds of cuts we should be focused on,” Reid said, after accusing Republicans of “Slashing, slashing, recklessly,” in their long-term budget plan.
