–Speaker Boehner, Senate Leader Reid Bargain–And Blast Each Other
–Rep. Boehner Urges Senate Dems To Pass Their “Damn’ FY’11 Budget
–Sen. Reid Says Budget Deal Can Be Reached If Boehner Bucks Tea Party
–Sen. Schumer, House Majority Leader Cantor Embrace Pit Bull Roles

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – Rarely a day passes in Washington in which House
Speaker John Boehner, the Republican leader in Congress, and Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Democratic leader on Capitol Hill, do
not exchange a verbal jab or two.

Wednesday, Reid opened the Senate with a speech in which he said he
was encouraged that Boehner has “returned to the conversation” on how to
complete the 2011 fiscal year budget.

Twisting the knife a bit harder, Reid said he realized the Speaker
is under a “lot pressure from the Tea Party folks” in the House
Republican caucus. Reid described this group as a “radical faction” that
doesn’t want to compromise on anything, especially the budget.

Reid insisted that a FY’11 budget accord is now within striking
distance — if only Boehner and his colleagues will seize it.

One of Reid’s aides has said Republicans want to cap FY’11
discretionary spending at $1.052 trillion while Democrats have suggested
capping spending at $1.058 trillion. Democrats say this $6 billion
difference could be resolved easily.

For his part, Boehner Wednesday called on Reid and other Senate
Democrats to pass their version of a fiscal year 2011 spending bill. But
he put it more bluntly than that.

“Pass the damn thing alright,” he said. “And send it over here and
we’ll have real negotiations.”

Despite their verbal jabs, Reid and Boehner are negotiators at
heart and appear to want to complete work on the FY’11 budget as soon as
possible.

Boehner has signalled that he may be willing to reluctantly
scale-back the size of spending cuts Republicans are demanding — at
least a little. And Reid has said that he would at least take a look at
some of the policy riders that House Republicans want and Democrats
abhor.

“We’re happy to look at the policy riders. There aren’t many of
them that excite me. But we’re willing to look at them. In fact, we’ve
already started looking at some of the policy riders,” Reid said
Tuesday.

The 2011 fiscal year began on Oct. 1 and the government has run on
six short-term funding bills.

Congress’ most recent temporary spending bill for the 2011 fiscal
year will keep the federal government funded until April 8.

House Republicans have been seeking $61 billion in spending cuts
from portions of the FY’11 budget. Congress so far has approved $10
billion in cuts. Democratic leaders offered a new proposal this week
with up to $20 billion in additional spending cuts.

Reid, Boehner and their staffs have been meeting with White House
budget director Jack Lew on a possible compromise on the FY’11 budget.

While Reid and Boehner both pride themselves in being dealmakers,
they represent parties that are not eager to compromise. And both have
top deputies who are eager to ratchet up the pressure and sharpen the
rhetoric.

In a sharp-edged speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Chuck
Schumer, the third ranking Senate Democrat, accused House Republican
leaders of pulling out of a possible FY’11 agreement.

Schumer said Democrats offered additional spending cuts last week
and it appeared that House Republican leaders were poised to accept the
package to end the stalemate.

“We could begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but
suddenly at the end of last week, the House Republicans did a strange
thing. They pulled back from the talks. They changed their minds about
what level of spending cuts they could accept,” Schumer said.

“We were right on the verge of a potential breakthrough, and they
suddenly moved the goal posts. We felt a little bit like we were left at
the altar,” he said.

Schumer said Boehner appears to want to reach an agreement on the
FY’11 budget, but is under considerable pressure from the Tea Party
faction to resist any compromise.

“So Speaker Boehner is caught between a shutdown and a hard place,”
Schumer said.

Speaking a few hours later at a briefing, House Majority Leader
Eric Cantor, a Republican, sharply disputed comments by congressional
Democrats that an agreement between the White House and Congress on a
final FY’11 spending bill is within sight.

Cantor said any assertions that a budget accord is looming is “far
fetched.” He said congressional Democrats continue to resist “serious”
spending cuts and that President Obama has been disengaged from the
negotiations.

“He hasn’t got involved yet,” Cantor said of the president. “We
just want to cut spending,” he added.

And Cantor said Republicans are not interested in another temporary
stop-gap spending bill. “Time is up here,” he said, referring to the
prolonged struggle over the FY11 budget.

“A short-term CR without a long term commitment (to spending cuts)
is unacceptable,” Cantor said.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

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