Obama says shutdown would be ‘inexcusable’

Congressional negotiators raced against the clock Wednesday to reach a deal to fund the government for the rest of the year.

As Democrats and Republicans continued to bicker publicly over who is responsible for the weeks-long stalemate over the 2011 budget, senior aides to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made progress in private talks, raising hopes for at least the broad outlines of a pact by week’s end.

The two leaders then spent nearly 90 minutes Wednesday night in the White House with President Obama, who told reporters in a very rare late-night briefing that progress was made but no deal was yet at hand.

“I remain confident that, if we are serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown,” Obama said. “But it’s going to require a sufficient sense of urgency from all parties involved.”

He also sounded a stern note about the consequences. “It would be inexcusable, given the relatively narrow differences when it comes to numbers between the two parties, that we can’t get this done,” Obama said. “There’s no reason why we should have a government shutdown unless we’ve made a decision that politics is more important.”

After trading public accusations earlier in the day, Boehner and Reid sounded a far more conciliatory tone Wednesday night. “I have confidence that we can get this done,” Reid said, adding that the group had “narrowed the issues significantly.”

Boehner, who has not made a joint appearance with Reid on a legislative matter in recent memory, agreed that “some progress” had been made and “there’s an intent on both sides . . . to work together to try to resolve this.”

But the speaker reiterated that there was “no agreement on a number, and there’s no agreement on the policy questions.” The leaders said their staffers would work through the night and they would resume negotiations Thursday.

Even if they do reach an agreement, both sides acknowledged that it may be all but impossible for the bill to make its way through the House and the Senate before midnight Friday, when Washington will effectively run out of money and the government is set to shut down.

To keep that from happening, House and Senate leaders would have to agree to yet another stopgap resolution to keep Washington open into next week.

At a meeting with fellow Republicans, Boehner announced that he will bring a one-week spending resolution to the House floor for a vote on Thursday. It calls for $12 billion in cuts and would fund the Pentagon for the rest of the year. Republicans rallied around the idea. The teary-eyed speaker received a standing ovation from GOP members, lawmakers said.

Even the most conservative lawmakers, led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), vowed to support what they called the “troop funding” measure, and Boehner’s closest allies grew confident that the good spirits would carry over to a compromise plan on a full-year measure, particularly after the release Tuesday of a 2012 budget proposal designed to save trillions, not billions, of dollars.