CHAOS IN WASHINGTON: Obama Calls On Congress To Pass Short Term Spending Bill As Negotiations Stall

President Barack Obama's brinkmanship strategy over the payroll tax cut and a bill to fund the government after Friday appears to have fallen apart.

An email from White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer sent to reporters Wednesday night calls on congress to shelve the $1 trillion funding measure, saying Obama has "significant concerns" about the bill. Instead, Obama urged Congress to proceed with another short-term continuing resolution ? without which, much of the federal government will shut down early Saturday morning.

Pfeiffer said the current spending bill includes "provisions that would undermine Wall Street reforms, enact extreme social and ideological riders, undercut environmental protections, and threaten the foreign policy prerogatives of the President."

Obama had wanted to tie the funding measure to the payroll tax cut bill, asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold the spending bill until lawmakers reach a compromise on the vital tax break.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers said Tuesday that the "omnibus" spending bill is done and ready for a vote, but the White House maintains there were always issues with the bill, and that there is no final deal until Obama agrees to it.

Furthering the confusion is the simple fact that congressional leaders can't agree to sit down and negotiate a solution to the crisis. Take this lede from POLITICO's Manu Raju and Jake Sherman:

"Mitch McConnell says Harry Reid should talk to John Boehner. Reid says he wants to talk to Boehner to hash out a compromise on extending the payroll tax holiday and jobless benefits. But Boehner first wants Reid to show his hand by actually passing something."

Indeed, if it weren't for the horrors of the debt ceiling stand-off this summer, this development would be shocking. Instead, it appears to be the new normal: House and Senate leaders squabble with the White House and each other to pass legislation they both agree is vital.

Boehner appears ready to pass the spending bill unamended on Friday, just hours before the shutdown deadline ? and force Democrats to take it or leave it. His office has yet to respond to the White House's call for a short-term bill to allow time to reopen negotiations.

On the payroll tax cut, Democrats have yet to scrap the millionaire's surtax that Republicans say has got to go, and the GOP is still pushing the Keystone XL pipeline issue that Obama wants off the table.

With 50 hours left, the government is just beginning to prepare for a shutdown, and lawmakers are only getting widening the gaps between them.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chaos-in-washington-obama-calls-on-congress-to-pass-short-term-spending-bill-2011-12

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