WASHINGTON - U.S. Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said Thursday that lawmakers have a consensus on the right level of budget cuts and where they should come from in a deal to keep the government running.
Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, also said House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, keeps "moving the goal post" in budget talks.
But in a Thursday press conference, Boehner disputed Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Harry’s Reid’s claim that the two sides have essentially agreed on a base number for spending cuts and are now squabbling only over unrelated policy provisions.
“In fact, there is no agreement on a number,” Boehner said. “I think we were closer to a number last night than we were this morning.”
Asked if Republicans were focusing particularly on an abortion-related policy "rider" as an area closed to compromise, the speaker said that issues to related abortion funding are far from the only sticking point in the ongoing negotiations.
“There’s far more than one provision that’s holding up any agreement, he said. “I can tell you that.”
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