Reid the tactician; Boehner the blunderbuss

“Reid pushes for stop-gap plan to keep government funded at current level

By Felicia Sonmez

Updated: 4:10 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Tuesday that he will introduce a measure next week to keep the federal government running for 30 days at current funding levels.

The move sets the stage for a showdown with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who late last week announced that House Republicans will oppose any short-term funding measure that does not include additional budget cuts.

"To avoid a shutdown and give us time to negotiate a responsible path forward, I have asked Sen. [Daniel] Inouye, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to prepare a clean Continuing Resolution that I can bring to the floor next week," Reid said in a statement Tuesday. "Since this bill is intended to fund vital services like Social Security, our military and border security, it should have no legislation or riders tied to it. This bill will include the $41 billion in budget cuts that Democrats and Republicans agreed to in December, and will keep the government running for 30 days while both sides can negotiate a common-sense, long-term solution."

The $41 billion in cuts mentioned by Reid is based on President Obama's proposed 2011 budget, which was never enacted. The short-term resolution would actually keep the government funded at current levels.

The measure currently funding the federal government is set to expire March 4. The House early Saturday morning passed its version of a longer-term funding measure that would cut more than $61 billion across federal agencies over the next seven months. But Senate Democrats are opposed to those cuts, which they argue are too deep, and both chambers are likely to need several more weeks to hash out a compromise.

That means that both chambers must agree to a stop-gap measure to keep the government funded, likely for several weeks, or else a government shutdown will ensue.

Boehner said in a statement Tuesday that if Reid does not bring the House-passed legislation up for a vote, "then the House will pass a short-term bill to keep the government running -- one that also cuts spending."

"Senate Democratic leaders are insisting on a status quo that has left us with a mountain of debt and a stalled economy with unemployment near 10 percent," Boehner said. "That is not a credible position. Republicans' goal is to cut spending and reduce the size of government, not to shut it down. Senator Reid and the Democrats who run Washington should stop creating more uncertainty by spreading fears of a government shutdown and start telling the American people what -- if anything -- they are willing to cut."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also criticized Reid's announcement in a statement, arguing that "keeping bloated spending levels in place and, predictably, proposing even more tax increases, is simply unacceptable."

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to say whether Senate Democrats would agree to a stop-gap measure that would cut funding below current levels. Schumer said that Reid had "offered an olive branch to House Republicans, and they flatly rejected it."

While congressional leaders from both parties insist that their goal is not to shutter the federal government, both Democrats and Republicans have been accusing each other of rooting for a shutdown.

"Speaker Boehner is a smart, reasonable man, and I have a great deal of personal respect for him," Schumer said. "He remembers what happened in 1995 when Newt Gingrich pursued a similar policy and forced a shutdown. I take Speaker Boehner at his word that he doesn't want to repeat that mistake, but he is under intense pressure from the right wing, both outside Washington and inside his caucus. And he's being misled and pushed around by his conservative freshmen who don't remember what happened in 1995 and not only don't fear a government shutdown, but they actually say they welcome one."

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) reiterated in a statement earlier Tuesday that Republicans don't want a shutdown.

"As I said this morning, a government shutdown is not an acceptable outcome, and I again call upon Leader Reid to commit take that threat off the table and find areas to actually cut spending from the levels we are currently operating at," Cantor said. He added that Reid's "smoke-in-mirrors version of spending cuts doesn't pass the smell test and it won't get us any closer to living within our means just like every business and family throughout the country is doing."

By Felicia Sonmez  | February 22, 2011; 4:10 PM ET