Speaker of the United States House of Representative, John Boehner in a last minute effort to forestall government shut down on Friday is proposing another short term budget of one week during which talks continue on cuts on the budget.
Addressing Congressional Correspondents on Wednesday, the Speaker said that, “we’re going to be prepared to move forward with our troop funding bill that would fund our troops, keep the government open for another week, and cut $12 billion in spending.”
According to him, “ I think this is the responsible thing to do for the United States Congress, and I would hope the Senate could pass it and the president would sign it into law,” Boehner said. “Republicans have no interest in shutting down the government.
Shutting down the government I think is irresponsible and I think it’ll end up costing the American taxpayers more money than we’re already spending. And I believe that our members want to support our troops, want to pay our troops, and we’re going to do the responsible thing tomorrow.”
How far this can will remain to be seen as only the previous day President Obama was very emphatic that he is not ready to sign another short term budget.
Responding to question of another short term budget, the President responded on Tuesday this way, “We did it once for two weeks, then we did another one for three weeks. That is not a way to run a government. I can’t have our agencies making plans based on two-week budgets. I can’t have the Defense Department, I can’t have the State Department, I can’t have our various agencies on food safety and making sure our water is clean and making sure that our airports are functioning, I can’t have them making decisions based on two-week-at-a-time budgets.”
In the same vein, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated that there is not an appetite for another short-term CR, particularly one that cuts $12 billion in one week, rather than the $2 billion pace of the two previous short-term stopgap measures.
When asked Tuesday if the GOP’s short-term CR would be “dead on arrival” Reid, D-Nevada, replied, “Oh sure, absolutely.”
But with stiff opposition to another short-term CR in the Senate, a shutdown now appears closer than ever if Congressional leaders are unable to reach a long-term deal.
All this is happening less than three days away from a government shutdown.
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