Snip ~ "The government is operating on a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires on April 8. Congress must pass some sort of appropriation to keep the government operating after that. Attention is currently focused on passing a "full-year" CR to fund the remaining six months of FY2011, which ends on September 30"
March 30, 2011
After weeks of arguing, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill began negotiations Wednesday on a possible budget agreement that would slash federal spending by as much as $33 billion and avert a government shutdown.
“We’re all working off the same number now,” Vice President Biden told reporters after meeting with Senate Democratic leaders at the Capitol on Wednesday evening. “Obviously, there’s a difference in the composition of that number — what’s included, what’s not included. It’s going to be a thorough negotiation.”
If approved, the deal would be the largest single-year budget cut in U.S. history. Lawmakers in both parties are eager to reach such a compromise, which would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, in September, and end a series of stopgap spending resolutions that have kept Washington operating a few weeks at a time since last fall.
The current short-term measure will expire April 8, and congressional leaders have said they don’t want to pass another one. The two sides have already agreed on $10 billion in cuts; now, the House and Senate appropriations committees are searching for an additional $23 billion to extract from the budget, according to lawmakers and aides from both parties. “We’re going to try to find some common ground,” House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) told reporters. “It’s going to take some time. . . . [But] the leadership has said for us to get started.”
Congressional leaders cautioned that no final deal has been reached. The talks could break down over disputes about how much to cut and from where. “There have been discussion for weeks, and those discussions are continuing,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “There’s no agreement, and nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to.” Boehner on Thursday dismissed reports that agreement on a number had been reached. “You’ve heard a lot of talk over the last 24 hours,” Boehner said at a Capitol news conference. “There is no agreement on numbers. Nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to.”
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-and-democrats-begin-negotiating-possible-budget-agreement/2011/03/30/AFoid35B_story.html?wpisrc=nl_wonk
