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Chicago
Tribune...
Top Democrat draws
line in sand in budget fight
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Assistant Senate Democratic leaderDick Durbin
drew a line in the sand on Sunday in his party’s budget battle with
Republicans, who are pushing deep spending cuts to trim the federal
deficit.
Durbin, one of President Barack Obama’s top allies in Congress, said he
opposed going beyond the $10.5 billion in domestic, non-defense
discretionary spending cuts that Democrats have backed.
Republicans want $61 billion in spending reductions.
“I think we’ve pushed this to the limit,” Durbin told the “Fox
News Sunday” television program as Congress and the White House
prepared for another week of showdowns that threaten a government
shutdown.
“To go any further is to push more kids out of school,” Durbin said.
“It stops the investment of infrastructure, which kills good-paying
jobs right here in the United States.’
“I’m willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic
discretionary spending,” Durbin said.
Putting further cuts in non-defense, domestic discretionary spending
off limits would force lawmakers to focus instead on areas such as the
Pentagon, foreign aid and so-called entitlements, such as the Social
Security retirement program.
Representative Jeb Hensarling, a member of the House Republican
leadership, said he would be willing to work with Democrats on
entitlement reform. But Hensarling said Obama has failed to take the
lead.
“Instead, all he presents us is trillions of dollars of more debt,”
said Hensarling, who appeared with Durbin on “Fox News Sunday.”
Read the full story with links at The Chicago Tribune
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