White House, GOP Upbeat on Avoiding Shutdown

The next big budget debate—over money to keep the government open—shouldn't be as fraught as the last one, leaders say. "The president agreed that we should not have any talk of a government shutdown," John Boehner told NBC in an interview broadcast yesterday. "So I’m hopeful that the House and Senate will be able to work through this." Thursday will see a vote on funding starting March 27, when the current plan ends, through Sept. 30, the Washington Post reports.

The measure would confirm sequester cuts, but it would also offer the Defense department some room to distribute its $40 billion budget decrease. The sequester would then hold for the rest of the fiscal year, the Post notes, though administration budget director Gene Sperling says President Obama will look to remove those cuts. As to the future, Republican leaders yesterday pointed to a possible long-term deficit agreement. While some suggested that new revenues could be involved, Boehner and Mitch McConnell held that revenues from tax code reform could only be used to lower taxes, Roll Call notes. (More John Boehner stories.)