By Susan Ferrechio
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Im gearing up for a shutdown Cong. Lee Terry R-Neb. told The Washington Examiner. Thats the feeling among most lawmakers he added.
With no end in sight to the partisan impasse over the 2011 budget Congress and the White House on Tuesday began preparing for a government shutdown that just weeks ago appeared to be only a remote possibility.
Washington began officially preparing for a shutdown Tuesday with a notice issued to federal workers by the Office of Management & Budget alerting them of the possibility.
The House Administration Committee sent a letter to members to provide guidance in the event of a lapse in appropriations. The letter details which staff would be considered essential and could thus keep on working even if funding ran out.
Offices which are determined not to be related to the protection of human life the protection of property or constitutional responsibilities will be closed the letter states.
The talk of a shutdown comes as lawmakers face a Friday funding deadline with no agreement in sight. A stopgap funding measure expires that day and without a new one in place a partial government shutdown would ensue.
Democrats offered the GOP a deal that would fund the budget through the final six months of the fiscal year while cutting $33 billion. Republicans say the cuts are too
small and target the wrong areas. The GOP is also insisting on including social policy riders in the budget that the Democrats oppose including one that would de-fund Planned Parenthood.
A meeting between House Speaker John Boehner R-Ohio and President Obama on Tuesday failed to yield an agreement making a shutdown appear imminent.
I not real optimistic no Im not Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. told reporters on Tuesday. I think that the Tea Party is driving what goes on in the House of Representatives. And we cannot
do what they want done.
Obama said he would invite Boehner and Reid to another White House meeting Wednesday for further negotiations. Boehner declined to comment on reports that he has offered a compromise of $40 billion in cuts.
We want the largest spending cuts that are possible Boehner said.
Republicans would likely need the help of Democrats to pass a budget that cuts $40 billion because a large faction of conservative GOP lawmakers say they will only back a House-passed bill that slashes spending by $61 billion.
Its clear from the number of people that have gotten up at the microphone in our caucus meetings that its $61 billion or die Terry told The Examiner.
Republicans in the meantime are weighing a plan to pass a third stop-gap measure that would keep the government operating for just one week while cutting $12 billion in spending. But Reid said that short-term bill is a nonstarter in the Senate. Obama directing congressional leaders to act like grown-ups opposes the use of another short-term funding measure.
The weeklong funding measure proposed by Republicans includes cuts six times the size of spending reductions in two previous short-term spending bills. It also includes a provision to ban the District of Columbia government from spending
local or federal money to fund abortions.
Susan Ferrechio is chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner. She was previously a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and prior to that covered education for the Miami Herald.
