Several Republican senators said Sunday a Democratic request to increase government spending is hurting chances of a deal to end the 13-day-old shutdown.
Leaders of the Democratic-led Senate were dismissive of a proposal Saturday, in part, because it kept in place for too long the automatic spending cuts that went into effect earlier this year. Another round of those decade-long cuts -- dubbed the sequester and approved by Congress and the White House in 2011 -- is expected in January.
The Republican complaints came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke briefly Sunday afternoon but failed to reach a deal to end the shutdown or find common ground that would allow Congress to approve raising the federal debt ceiling.
“Our discussions were substantive and we’ll continue those discussions,” Reid said before the Senate adjourned Sunday. “I’m optimistic about the prospects for a positive conclusion to the issues before this country today.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. said that maintaining spending cuts is the same for Republicans as maintaining the Affordable Care Act is for Democrats.
"They’re all about Obamacare being the law of the land, but so’s the sequester,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley. “If we exceed that, it’s real big step in the wrong direction."
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. said House Republicans went too far in their initial proposals by trying to force repeal or delay of the new health care law as part of legislation needed to keep parts of the government open when money ran out with the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30. Now, he said, Senate Democrats are oing the same with their bid to end the sequester and increase spending.
“They now are overreaching,” he said on FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace. “We’re at status quo right now. The last 24 hours have not been good.”
Corker has been part of several groups trying to craft a larger fiscal deal in recent years, including one with the White House, but none have garnered enough bipartisan support.
“What we need to do is get this back to the middle of the road, act like adults,” he said. “Nothing is going to happen, I don’t think, if it’s about breaking those spending caps.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, repeated the same message on NBC’s Meet the Press. “You’ve got to deal with the underlying problem, which is the spending problem,” he said.
A slew of U.S. senators made appearances on the talk shows Sunday morning as all eyes turned to the Senate to find a solution to re-open the government and avoid possible default on government debts.
Senators of both parties said they believe Congress will find a compromise before Thursday, when the government is expected to start running out of ways to pay its debts.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. said on CBS’ Face the Nation that he was “cautiously hopeful, optimistic” but acknowledged that the issue over spending is now “one of the sticking points.”
Action moved to the Senate after talks between the White House and the Republican-led House of Representatives broke down Saturday.
The future of any compromise now rests largely on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. They, along with Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Schumer met Saturday for the first time to discuss a way forward.
But Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos that he thinks a proposal should originate in the House.
“I’m worried a deal will come out of the Senate that a majority of Republicans in the House can’t support,” he said. “I’m not going to vote for any plan that can’t get a majority of Republicans in the House.”
On Saturday, the Senate considered a proposal by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to re-open the closed parts of the government immediately with six months of funding. The debt limit would be extended through Jan. 31.
Collins’ plan would delay the medical device tax which helps pay for the health care law -- a plan that has in the past won bipartisan support -- and give agencies more flexibility to deal with the automatic spending cuts, which were ordered across the board when enacted.
Reid rejected the proposal, saying it is “not going to go anyplace at this stage.”
The full Senate has not voted on the plan, and some senators of both parties said Sunday they are hopeful it could still be part of a solution in the coming days. “I’m still hopeful we sparked a dialogue,” Collins said on CNN.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. said on CNN that she agreed it provided “a positive framework going forward.” By Sunday afternoon, however, Klobuchar and five other Democratic senators issued a statement saying they’re negotiating with Republicans on Collins’ plan but “we do not support the proposal in its current form. There are negotiations, but there is no agreement.”
One window into the shutdown, over half of the 80 Republicans in the House who urged Speaker Boehner to close the government over Obamacare funding were first or second term representatives who come from the most conservative districts: