Talks on budget hit early bumps
Federal shutdown does little to erase partisan differences
WASHINGTON — With another government shutdown looming as early as January, congressional negotiators convened Wednesday to attempt to reach a budget compromise and end the brinkmanship that has left Washington lurching from one fiscal crisis to another.
But just two weeks after a short-term deal ended the 16-day government shutdown, familiar partisan divisions over tax hikes and spending cuts quickly reemerged, and expectations remained low that members of the House and Senate panel would achieve the kind of farreaching deficit-reduction deal once pursued by President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner. Most said they would be lucky to prevent another shutdown in the new year.
“I don’t think we’re going to do a ‘grand bargain’ here,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. “I think we can do something that moves us in the right direction, and I think we can call it a ‘good bargain.’ ”
The panel, created from this month’s budget agreement, has until Dec. 13 to negotiate a budget framework before funding to keep the federal government open runs out by Jan. 15. Wednesday was the panel’s first session.
Republicans resisted new taxes, saying they would prefer to reduce spending on Medicare and other safety-net programs. Democrats want wealthy individuals and corporations to contribute more tax revenue to the nation’s fiscal problems.
“I want to say this from the get-go: If this conference becomes an argument about taxes, we’re not going to get anywhere,” said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the House Budget Committee chairman and his party’s former vice presidential nominee. “Taking more from hardworking families just isn’t the answer. I know my Republican colleagues feel the same way.”
Democrats, though, said the House GOP’s budget blueprint was unacceptable because it shifts the burden of spending cuts away from Pentagon accounts and onto domestic programs for children, seniors and the poor.
“I’m ready to make some tough concessions to get a deal,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Senate Budget Committee chairman. “But compromise runs both ways. … Republicans are also going to have to work with us to scour the bloated tax code — and close some wasteful tax loopholes and special interest subsidies.”
The parties have common ground in their desire to alter the next round of across-the-board reductions coming in January.
But finding a compromise amid the partisan differences remains difficult. Obama was once willing to entertain a deal that would accept Republican proposals to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits, but only in the context of new revenues from taxes or closing tax loopholes.
As the economy has improved, the momentum for such a deal has waned among Democrats. Their motivation fell further Wednesday amid news that the deficit dropped to $680.3 billion in fiscal 2013, which ended Sept. 30. That’s the first deficit of less than $1 trillion since Obama took office, the Office of Management and Budget said.
Republicans remain eager to cut spending, but the GOP’s defense and budget hawks are split over how deeply they are willing to hit national-security-related accounts.
In a symbolic vote Wednesday, House Republicans passed a resolution disapproving further increases in the nation’s debt limit. Borrowing has already exceeded the $16.7 trillion statutory limit and reached $17 trillion. It will need to be extended in the new year to remove the threat of default on the nation’s bills.