WASHINGTON — Congress approved an additional $6 billion in spending cuts Thursday, passing legislation to keep the government running through April 8 and allow time for talks on a larger package of reductions demanded by Republicans.
“The president is optimistic that Congress can get this done,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney.
The measure brought the total of cuts to $10 billion since Republicans took control of the House in January on a promise to rein in the federal government. It cleared the Senate on a 87-13 vote Thursday, one day after passing the House.
Administration officials have already met with top aides to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry, Reid, D-Nev., to discuss a compromise package of cuts that would be included in a longer-term bill funding the government for the six months remaining in the budget year.
The House has passed a bill calling for $61 billion in cuts. It lacks enough support to pass in the Senate, and President Barack Obama has threatened to veto it.
It is not clear what, if any, progress has been made toward a possible compromise. The most significant decisions aren’t expected to be made until lawmakers return to the Capitol after a 10-day vacation.
The $6 billion, combined with $4 billion enacted earlier, drew expressions of satisfaction from Republicans.
“All in all, a good day’s work,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
While lawmakers in both parties hailed the $10 billion as the largest cutback in decades, it is dwarfed in the context of a $1.6 trillion deficit estimated for the current fiscal year. Any attempt to cut significantly into the red ink would have to expand beyond the domestic programs covered by the bill that passed Thursday, and include benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
With a new three-week timetable set for negotiations, Republicans, Democrats and the White House maneuvered for position.
“It’s time for President Obama to finally come to the table and start engaging in this discussion,” said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
One Senate Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, sought to drive a wedge between Boehner and the 87 first-term Republican lawmakers in the House, many of them backed by Tea Party supporters.
“Speaker Boehner wouldn’t have been able to pass this short-term measure without Democratic votes, and he won’t be able to pass a long-term one without Democratic votes either,” he said.
Schumer’s remark was a reference to the 54 House Republicans who opposed the $6 billion bill Wednesday. But in fact, of the first-term conservatives most often identified as Tea Party-backed, 66 voted for the measure and only 21 were opposed.
Boehner’s office issued a statement saying the cuts approved so far “are nowhere close to what is needed. . . . Democrats control the Senate and the White House, and they remain the majority party in Washington. Where is their plan? Who is in charge?”
