W.H.: GOP met 'more than halfway'

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0311/51_billion_and_change_a4831a0a-96fd-4921-89b8-d755d6945617.html

The White House insisted Monday that it has met Republicans on their budget-cutting demands “more than halfway,” just a few days after the GOP claimed Democrats were coming up far short of such a benchmark.

Last week, the White House’s proposal to cut $6.5 billion in spending enraged Republicans, who are urging for a figure closer to $60 billion.

Republicans decried the plan unveiled Thursday as “outrageous,” “unserious,” “unacceptable” and just a mere “drop in the ocean.” But with less than two weeks before the government faces another potential shutdown, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the administration’s plan meets Republicans “more than halfway.”

Carney based his statement on saying that “regardless of whatever number you want to start from,” Republicans picked a “baseline” for cuts at $100 billion.

“We have now ... met the Republicans more than halfway, at $51 billion and change,” Carney said in his briefing on Monday. “We are engaged and will continue to engage in negotiations.”

Carney said the White House is optimistic that the government won’t shut down, and he called the practice of staving off such an event every two weeks a “tollbooth” approach.

“The last thing we should be doing is taking actions that reverse the trend of the recovery,” Carney said.