House Dems Say They're Waiting On GOP To Agree To Budget

By Mario Trujillo

House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) told reporters Wednesday that he hasn’t seen a proposal by Democrats and White House officials to cut an additional $20 billion from current spending levels. However, Larson said that he supports the President “in general.”

Reports say Senate Democrats, with the President’s backing, have proposed the additional cuts as a compromise to the House’s spending bill that would slash $61 billion. Congress has already approved $10 billion in cuts through two continuing resolutions this year, the latest of which is set to expire April 8.

“We hope certainly that the Republicans and our colleagues in the Senate and White House are able to come together, but the devil is in the details as we always say,” Larson said during a press conference.

Vice Chairman of the Caucus Xavier Becerra (Calif.) painted House Republicans as being disjointed, with Tea Party members refusing to allow leaders to agree to a deal. Beccera said the President can’t negotiate with Republicans if Republicans don’t know where they stand in the process. 

The same argument has been lobbed at the Democrats for the past few weeks. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has repeatedly noted that Democrats in the Senate have not produced a counter-offer on the budget, and he won’t negotiate with himself.

Both Larson and Becerra said that should a government shutdown occur in April, the public would blame House Republicans for refusing to compromise, and for insisting on attaching social agenda items, such as defunding Planned Parenthood, to the spending measure.

Becerra said social policy doesn’t belong in a fiscal bill.

“We hope that Speaker Boehner is able to control his troops and put them together and and bring them together so we can vote on a budget bill, not on a cultural, social agenda bill.”