White House backs deal to avert federal shutdown

Washington: The White House signalled on Monday that it was open to a proposal to avert a government shutdown for two weeks, but congressional negotiators have yet to come up with a way to prevent the threat of a disruption in services later in the year.

Congress and the White House may act in time to avoid a shutdown this week, but deep divisions between Republicans and Democrats cast doubt over whether the two sides can compromise on a more durable proposal.

The House was expected to vote on Tuesday on a GOP stopgap measure that would cut $4 billion (Dh14.71 billion) over two weeks by eliminating programs President Obama has targeted for termination, among others.

Senate Democrats have indicated they are open to the proposal, and the administration says it may go along.

But the White House also said that a longer-term deal is essential to reduce "uncertainty" of continued stopgap measures that could harm the economy.

"If we keep returning to this every couple of weeks, that is a concern," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said. He declined to pinpoint a timeframe that the president would accept, saying only that the "focus has to be on the impact on the economy." Lawmakers returned to Washington after a week in their home districts as Americans began to focus on the size and scope of the cuts the Republican-led House approved last month.

Largest reduction

The GOP bill, which Obama vowed to veto, would cut more than $60 billion over the remaining seven months of the fiscal year, in one of the largest one-time reductions of its kind.

It would subtract billions of dollars from the Head Start preschool program, college grants, health care, infrastructure and other domestic federal programs, and would result in the loss of thousands of federally funded jobs, possibly including some in local law enforcement. But Republican leaders are confident of its public backing.

With "tea party" activists calling for even steeper reductions, GOP House leaders said their stopgap proposal also is drawing support — even though it no longer includes top Republican priorities, such as de-funding Obama's health care law.

"The feedback we've gotten has been very, very positive," said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a party leader. Congress must approve a spending plan by the end of the week to avoid a shutdown.