Little Progress Reported In Talks To Avert Shutdown

A spending agreement between President Obama and GOP lawmakers remained elusive Wednesday, with Republicans insisting on deeper spending cuts as the price for avoiding a partial shutdown of the federal government by week's end.  Republicans – under intense pressure from their tea party backers – have rejected the White House proposal to trim $33 billion. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued a statement saying, "We can still avoid a shutdown, but Democrats are going to need to get serious about cutting spending — and soon."

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate's No. 3 Democrat, said Wednesday morning that he saw "a glimmer of hope" come out of the late-night talks.  "Some progress was made" in the talks, he said, saying that Democrats had "met the other side more than half way" at the $33 billion figure. But Schumer said if a deal collapses, tea party activists will be to blame.

Tea party-backed Republicans in the House "have demanded that cuts be in a very small portion of the budget," such as cancer research, student aid and public broadcasting, he said. He accused the tea party Republicans of having "an ideology to just get rid of all government."  Despite the cautious optimism over Tuesday's meetings between the president, Boehner and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, a Friday deadline for avoiding shutdown looms. The White House said the president might summon congressional leaders for another session Wednesday, but neither Boehner nor Reid said they had word of another meeting.


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