Obama, Congress struggle to find budget deal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* Obama says aides will work through night to get deal

* Boehner, Reid say differences have narrowed

* Fourth White House meeting in three days

* Midnight Friday deadline looms
* (Updates after Obama, Reid, Boehner talks)

By Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach a deal but narrowed their differences on Thursday in a bitter budget dispute that could lead to a government shutdown.

Obama said negotiators would work all night and he expects an answer on Friday morning on whether it is possible to avoid a government closure at midnight on Friday that would idle hundreds of thousands of workers and potentially put a crimp on the U.S. economic recovery.

He met for an hour with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner at the White House. It was their fourth meeting in three days.

"I'm not prepared to express wild optimism," Obama told reporters after the nighttime meeting, the second night in a row he has made an evening foray into the White House briefing room to talk about the difficult search for a budget deal.

Neither side seemed willing as yet to make the final compromise necessary for an agreement.

"We have narrowed the issues, however, we have not yet reached an agreement. We will continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences," Reid and Boehner said in a joint statement.

Democrats blamed the impasse on a Republican push for policy provisions that would block public funding of birth control and stymie environmental protection efforts.

But Boehner said the divisions did not stop there.

"There are a number of issues that are on the table. And any attempt to try to narrow this down to one or two just would not be accurate," he said.

Their deadline to avoid a shutdown: Midnight on Friday night. Some cable television news broadcasts included a shutdown clock ticking the time down. (Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Donna Smith, David Alexander, Andy Sullivan, Thomas Ferraro and David Morgan; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Vicki Allen and Deborah Charles)

Obama, Congress leaders do not reach US budget deal, Posted by Meosha Eaton

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and U.S. congressional leaders have "narrowed their differences" but have not reached a budget deal aimed at averting a government shutdown, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday.

Their statement came following an 80-minute meeting at the White House with Obama.

"We will continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences," the two leaders said in a statement. (Reporting by Richard Cowan and Kim Dixon; Editing by Eric Beech)

Govt Shutdown: Republicans Propose Another Short Term Budget, Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Williams Ekanem for MACTV NEWS


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.