Lawmakers at Loggerheads on Deficit

Source: NYT

With just days remaining before their final deadline, members of a Congressional panel on deficit reduction made frenzied efforts on Thursday to overcome an impasse, but appeared to be talking past one another and reported no tangible progress toward an agreement. \

Committee members scurried through the Capitol, ducking in and out of impromptu meetings where they discussed possible tax increases and cuts in the growth of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

One panel member, Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, said the committee would hunker down and “work all weekend to try to bridge these differences.” Both houses of Congress passed a bill on Thursday providing more than $128 billion in spending authority for five cabinet departments in the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.

The Senate vote, 70 to 30, followed a vote of 298 to 121 in the House and cleared the bill for President Obama, who is expected to sign it. In the House, the bill had support from more Democrats than Republicans, as some conservatives balked at the overall cost. The bill reflects constraints on spending imposed by the bipartisan agreement that increased the federal debt ceiling and created the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/us/politics/congressional-deficit-panel-still-at-loggerheads.html