Harry Reid

Scenarios: What could happen in budget fight

President Barack Obama and leaders in the U.S. Congress are racing against a midnight Friday deadline to reach a deal on government spending for the rest of this fiscal year, which ends on September 30.

With only a few hours remaining, here are some scenarios on what could happen:

A DEAL IS REACHED

Obama, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, agree on spending reductions. They've been discussing cuts that would total around $38 billion for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Negotiations have been complicated by House Republicans insisting on some controversial policy changes, such as restrictions on funding for family planning and the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate air pollution.

Once a deal is reached, Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate would then have to make sure enough of their rank-and-file members will support it. If so, a bill will be drawn up and sent to the two chambers for a vote.

TIMING FOR CONGRESS TO APPROVE DEAL

Once a deal is set, it would take several days to write a bill, post it publicly and then vote on it so that President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

A DEAL AND STOPGAP FUNDING

If there is a deal, Congress would move quickly to pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running past midnight Friday and until the deal is enacted into law.

That action could come either late Friday or sometime on Saturday. House members have been notified they need to be available for votes in a rare Saturday session.

House Republicans already have passed a spending bill keeping the government open beyond Friday. But with $12 billion in spending cuts over the life of the one-week plan, Obama says he'll veto it.

Democrats are pushing for a stopgap bill with no policy restrictions or spending cuts.

FAILURE AND STOPGAP FUNDING

If a deal cannot be reached, the federal government would partially shut down on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands of government workers across the United States would be identified as either essential or nonessential. Nonessential workers would be furloughed while essential employees will continue working.

Some government services would be unaffected by the shutdown, including the military, border patrol, air traffic controllers and federal criminal investigators.

Fifteen years ago, when the last shutdown occurred, the government was partially closed for a record 21 days. Government employees were reimbursed for their lost wages.

The government shutdown would continue until negotiators either strike a deal or Congress decides to pass a temporary spending bill.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/08/us-usa-budget-scenarios-idUSTRE7378CF20110408


Government shutdown comes down to wire

Updated at 9:51 p.m. ET

The Associated Press, National Journal, The Washington Post and Politico are among the news organizations reporting that a tentative budget deal is in the works. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, just walked into a GOP conference meeting and brushed past TV reporters without a word.

Updated at 9:03 p.m. ET

"The speaker says there is no deal," said House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, the No. 4 leader.

USA TODAY's Jackie Kucinich reports that Hensarling told reporters, as he emerged from a confab with other lawmakers in House Speaker John Boehner's office, that there will be a meeting later tonight to update members on the state of budget negotiations.

Federal funding is slated to run out at midnight and the government will shut down if no budget deal is reached.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is now slated to speak on the Senate floor at 10:30 p.m. ET. Reid's floor speech has been pushed back several times as budget negotiations continue.

Updated at 8 p.m. ET

CNN is reporting that House Speaker John Boehner told reporters there is "no deal yet."

Meanwhile, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., just tweeted this:

Waiting around the Capitol praying Rs come their senses. Shut down would be bad bad bad.

Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET

Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., one of the freshmen lawmakers elected in November with Tea Party support, dismissed the charge from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democrats that the small-government movement is to blame for the budget impasse.

"We don't have a straight-jacket on our speaker," West said on CNN, referring to John Boehner.

Updated at 7 p.m. ET

The president of the largest union representing federal workers just issued a statement about the "uncertainty" over a budget deal and the possibility of a government shutdown beginning at midnight.

"The men and women of the federal workforce believe in their agencies' missions and want to continue delivering services to the public, which wants, needs, expects and deserves these services. Continuing to surround this unfortunate situation with uncertainty unwisely and unnecessarily increases anxiety and stress levels throughout our nation and threatens our fragile economic recovery," said Colleen Kelly, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 150,000 federal workers.

Updated at 6:11 p.m. ET

USA TODAY's Jackie Kucinich is in the U.S. Capitol, as the clock continues to tick toward midnight. That's when a bill funding the government will expire and the first shutdown since 1995-96 is expected to begin.

Jackie says congressional aides and reporters are roaming the near empty halls of the Capitol, waiting to hear if an eleventh-hour budget deal is coming. There's a stakeout outside of House Speaker John Boehner's office. Some lawmakers have drifted by, giving tours to small groups of tourists.

Updated at 5:52 p.m. ET

We're waiting for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make a statement on the Senate floor about budget negotiations. (Note: This now has been pushed back until later in the evening.)

Updated at 1:05 p.m. ET

House Speaker John Boehner and the GOP leadership team just emerged from a meeting with their Republican members. Boehner insists the fight is about spending cuts, not policy issues such as funding for women's health clinics.

"Most of the policy issues have been dealt with and the big fight is over spending," Boehner said.

He continued: "We're not going to roll over and sell out the American people like'ts been done time and time again here in Washington. When we say we're serious about cutting spending, we're damn serious about it."

Our colleague David Jackson at The Oval has more on what's going on at the White House in the budget fight.

Our original post begins here:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blasted Republicans today for failing to reach a budget agreement over funding for women's health screenings.

The federal government is hours away from shutting down if Congress and the White House cannot reach a deal on funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

Reid, D-Nev., said it is "shameful" that Republicans are trying to move "an extreme social agenda" that will "throw women under a bus even if it means it will shut down the government."

The congressional leaders and President Obama have reportedly agreed to $38 billion in spending cuts for the remaining six months of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

Reid spoke moments after House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, made a brief statement to reporters, urging Obama to sign a one-week spending bill to keep the government running. Boehner placed the blame on Democrats, saying they are not yet serious about cutting spending.

"There's only one reason that we do not have an agreement as yet, and that issue is spending. We are close to a resolution on the policy issues," Boehner said, without taking questions from reporters.

A key sticking point, Reid and congressional Democrats say, is that Republicans want to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which gets funding from Medicaid and other federal sources to provide women with birth control, cancer screenings, AIDS tests and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Federal funding is not used to pay for abortion.

The White House has said Obama would veto the House GOP's one-week spending bill, which includes $12 billion in spending cuts. It has been labeled a "distraction" as congressional negotiators and the White House try to work out a deal for funding for the rest of the fiscal year.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/04/john-boehner-harry-reid-government-shutdown-/1


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