Congressional Sources: White House Reviewing Terms of Spending Deal

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http://mobile.nationaljournal.com/white-house-reviewing-terms-of-spending-deal-20110408
By Susan Davis and Dan Friedman

The likelihood of a war-time federal government shutdown—the first in American history—diminished dramatically on Friday night as all parties began reviewing, with the goal of approving, a broad array of cuts and a short-term bill to keep the government operating while the details are put into legislative language for full congressional action next week.

While leadership staff insist there is no deal yet, that caution belies significant progress in narrowing long-standing differences and the widening assumption in both parties that a shutdown will be averted and all that remains unknown is the precise procedural steps that will walk everyone back from the abyss.

Numerous GOP and Democratic sources on and off Capitol Hill tell National Journal that the outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a “bridge” continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating while the deal is written in bill form.

House appropriators began meeting in Speaker John Boehner’s office about 7:45 p.m. EDT, a sure sign of preparing floor action for another stopgap spending bill, the seventh in a process that began last year when Democrats failed to pass the necessary spending bills to fund the government for this fiscal year.


Breaking on CNN
Senior GOP source: Budget disagreements over policy riders are "essentially resolved." Democratic sources say otherwise.
http://www.cnn.com/

GOP memo: no deal reached
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0411/GOP_memo_no_deal_reached_.html

No deal yet. Latest: House Republicans conference at 9:45pm -- Senator Reid on the Senate floor at 10:30pm
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