Los Angeles Times: White House open to deal to avoid federal shutdown
The White House signaled Monday that it is open to a proposal to avert a government shutdown for two weeks, but congressional negotiators have yet to come up with a way to prevent the threat of a disruption in services later in the year.
Congress and the White House may act in time to avoid a shutdown this week, but deep divisions between Republicans and Democrats cast doubt over whether the two sides can compromise on a more durable proposal.
Lawmakers returned to Washington after a week in their home districts as Americans began to focus on the size and scope of the cuts the Republican-led House approved last month.
The GOP bill, which Obama vowed to veto, would cut more than $60 billion over the remaining seven months of the fiscal year, in one of the largest one-time reductions of its kind.
It would subtract billions of dollars from the Head Start preschool program, college grants, healthcare, infrastructure and other domestic federal programs, and would result in the loss of thousands of federally funded jobs, possibly including some in local law enforcement. But Republican leaders are confident of its public backing.
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But Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) … proposed reductions Monday that would include freezing congressional pay and reducing lawmakers’ office expenses.
