WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the economic recovery will stall if Congress can’t agree on spending cuts and avoid a government shutdown.
The current budget expires Friday. That means lawmakers must approve a new spending plan before the March 4 deadline to keep much of the government from running out of money and closing. The Republican- run House and Democratic-controlled Senate are bickering over how much to cut.
“For the sake of our people and our economy, we cannot allow gridlock to prevail,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.
House Republicans have proposed $4 billion in cuts as part of legislation to keep the government functioning through March 18. Democrats want a short-term extension at current spending levels so the parties can negotiate over how deeply to cut expenditures and begin chipping away at the deficit and the trillions of dollars in accumulated debt. The Associated Press
