In a statement Friday night, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said that if the government shuts down, the blame would be squarely on Democrats’ shoulders.
“If Democrats don’t have a plan, do they intend to shut down the government because they can’t agree among themselves?” Boehner asked. “The status quo is unacceptable, and right now that is all Washington Democrats are offering.”
Asked for comment on the negotiations Friday, the White House budget office declined to discuss the details of the meetings, which it said “were agreed by all to be confidential.”
Budget office spokesman Kenneth Baer added, however, that there have been “ongoing discussions at many levels” and noted that Vice President Biden spoke with Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday.
“The process is on track,” Baer said.
Friday’s public sniping, which was conducted in a stream of e-mailed statements between Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the top three House Republican leaders, followed a Tuesday meeting among staff members for Boehner and Reid and representatives of the White House budget office on a possible deal for funding the government through the end of the fiscal year in September. Aides from both parties who described the talks declined to speak on the record, requesting anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
Democratic aides said talks had been underway for nearly two weeks between Boehner’s staff and the White House budget office, with steady progress leading to an agreement that the two sides would meet halfway between the $61 billion in cuts approved by the House and Democrats’ preference for maintaining current spending levels.
Since $10 billion in cuts had already been approved in two temporary funding resolutions, that position would require Democrats to come up with only an additional $20 billion to $25 billion — some of which Democrats hoped to take from mandatory programs such as health care and agriculture subsidies.
But on Tuesday, according to Democrats, House Republicans changed the terms, insisting that negotiations start with the House-passed bill and that Democrats identify the cuts they couldn’t accept.
Such a move would force Democrats to go on record defending programs that Republicans had identified as wasteful. In the meeting Tuesday, White House budget director Jacob J. Lew balked at the terms and walked out of the meeting, Democratic aides said.
Republican aides blamed Lew for the impasse, saying it was the White House that had demanded unreasonable terms.
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