Negotiations between congressional Democrats, Republicans and the White House to avoid a government shutdown took a turn for the worse Monday, as top Republicans issued coordinated statements calling Democrats’ spending cut goals too low, and preemptively blaming them if the Friday deadline passes without a deal.
“Despite attempts by Democrats to lock in a number among themselves, I’ve made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). “That’s unacceptable. … If the government shuts down, it will be because Senate Democrats failed to do their job.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) followed suit. “[Senate Majority] Leader [Harry] Reid and Senator Schumer are promoting false promises and using sleight of hand budgeting to achieve an imaginary spending cut figure that is still far too low by comparison,” he said. “If the Democrats demand to defend every dime of government spending and force a government shutdown, that will be on their hands.”
They were backed up by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY): “Senator Reid is attempting to abuse the budget process and limit the ability of Appropriations negotiators to complete their work – dictating the use of gimmicks and phony accounting to sneak more spending through the Congress and by the American people,” his statement reads.
“It is my sincere hope that Leader Reid will let the will of the American people prevail by allowing negotiators to produce real spending reductions, prevent a government shutdown, and bring this drawn-out saga to an end,” Rogers said.
Republicans have consistently denied that the spending negotiations have revolved around a middle-ground number. But this is the first time that they’ve come out and said that number is too low.
To thaw the discussions, President Obama has invited Boehner, Reid, Rogers, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) to the White House for a meeting Tuesday.
Both parties have publicly expressed disagreements with the other about their prerogatives. Democrats note that Republicans are pushing to increase defense spending beyond what the Pentagon has requested, which would require them to claw deeper into social programs. Republicans object to a Democratic proposal to count returning unspent transportation funds toward the total cut figure.
This isn’t where things should be four days before April 8 when current funding expires if a shutdown is to be avoided.
Late update: Chuck Schumer responds to this latest tantrum by driving a wedge between Boehner and his caucus.
