WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate to Democratic majority, must act before the deadline of March 4 to prevent closure of government service ("shutdown"), said Monday the Republican majority leader of the House of Representatives Eric Cantor.
"This is not our intention to close the government. We showed that we were ready to do everything to avoid it," Cantor said at a news conference.
"It's the Senate, Harry Reid (the Democratic majority leader, ie) to act and to indicate that he did not want to close the administration," added Mr. Cantor.
The current budget law runs until Friday night, but it remains to finalize a compromise between the House of Representatives and the Senate Republican majority to the democrats to continue funding the administration.
Both chambers are expected to agree this week on a compromise short-term, on the basis of a draft budget law proposed Friday by the Republicans. The interim finance law in two weeks - time to negotiate for the longer term - contains four billion dollars in budget cuts.
Jon Summers, a spokesman for Mr. Reid said Monday in a statement "Since the beginning, Democrats called on Republicans to stop threatening to shutdown + + and (to) join in (their) goal of reducing costs by helping economic growth and job creation."
"We are pleased that the Republicans are finally listening," he said in welcoming the Republicans have abandoned their "extreme demands" for cuts.
So far, Democrats seem receptive to this plan. But Mr. Cantor has criticized Mr. Reid has not yet opened discussions on the matter before the Senate.
At the White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday: "We are pleased that there seems to be progress. We think it's going in the right direction."
For the longer term, ie for the last seven months of fiscal year 2011 which ends September 30, Mr. Cantor said that it was also "meet Harry Reid its members and to ask his constituents their opinion. And the question to ask is' why is he afraid to hold a vote on these issues? + ".
The House adopted 19 February a bill allowing federal funding of state until 30 September, but with cuts drastic than 61 billion dollars.
A size was not so radical taste and Democrats had little chance of passing the Senate because it affected such devices for government aid overseas, a threat to national security as allies of Barack Obama.
Mr. Cantor rejected the findings of economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics released Monday that the Republican plan would cost 700,000 jobs in 2012.
"Talk Does public employment? If so, why is it-that the government hires people that we can not pay?" He said. From their
side, Democrats have begun to work last weekend on a project in which they would agree to budget cuts this year, unlike their original objectives.
(© AFP /
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