Pat Dollard

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First, this morning:

American Spectator:

House Speaker John Boehner is not on the same page as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. At a press conference this morning, Boehner said, “There is no agreement on a set of numbers.” He accused the Democrats of rooting for a government shutdown. This is sure to generate more Tea Party jokes from Reid. Tea Party activists are currently rallying on Capitol Hill urging the Republicans to stick to their spending cuts pledge.

Then, later in the afternoon:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite fresh pressure from tea party conservatives, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that Republicans “can’t impose our will” on the White House and Senate Democrats on legislation to cut tens of billions of dollars in federal spending.

At a news conference, Boehner, R-Ohio, denied Democratic suggestions that he has already agreed to jettison nearly half of the $61 billion in cuts passed by the House a month ago.

But as was the case with Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., earlier in the week, he did not say the demand to reduce spending by the full $61 billion was non-negotiable. “Our goal is to cut spending, not shut down the government,” he said.

The government is running on the second of two short-term spending bills, and at the insistence of Republicans, a total of $10 billion has been cut so far.

Without action by Congress, the money will run out on April 9. Lawmakers are seeking a compromise that will extend to the Sept. 30 end of the spending year.

Senior House and Senate aides, experts in the intricacies of spending legislation, met during the day to explore a possible compromise.

Yet officials in both parties said Democrats had not yet provided Republicans with a detailed list of their proposed cuts, an indication that negotiations were not far along.

Democratic officials added that some of their proposed reductions would cut $3 billion or so from the Pentagon budget. The House-passed legislation calls for an increase in defense spending, and reserves spending cuts for domestic programs.

Boehner spoke as tea party activists demonstrated within shouting distance of the Capitol and a pair of potential GOP presidential contenders injected themselves into the first big test for the GOP majority elected last fall.

A few hundred protesters bore signs demanding that the Republican majority they helped vote into office remain true to campaign pledges.

“Remember your promises — WE DO,” read one. “Extreme spending requires extreme cuts,” was another.

They drew encouragement from several Republican lawmakers.

“Stay courageous and I know you will. Don’t back down and I know you won’t,” Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a potential presidential contender, exhorted on a cold, drizzly day.

“We will stand for cutting the size of government we won’t change our principle,” she said.

Separately, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, another White House hopeful, met behind closed doors with first-term Republicans.

As speaker, Gingrich led the party into twin shutdowns more than a decade ago that wound up damaging the party politically. He has recently written that the confrontation during the Clinton administration paved the way for a balanced budget agreement a few years later. But he leaves out that, as part of the deal, conservative Republicans were forced to create a new government benefit program — health care for millions of lower-income children — that President Bill Clinton demanded.

Boehner was a junior member of the leadership when Gingrich was party leader in the House. Now the leader of a rambunctious majority, his comments marked a public hint of flexibility two days after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered one of his own.

On Tuesday, the Nevada Democrat said his side in the talks was willing to consider limitations on government regulators as well as other non-spending items the House seeks. In exchange, Democrats would expect Republicans to scale back on their demands for spending cuts.

He did not identify any, but other officials have said curbs on the Environmental Protection Agency and other government regulators were likely candidates. Another is a proposed ban on the use of government funds to pay for abortions for poor women living in the District of Columbia.

Additionally, Boehner has made a personal priority of a measure the House passed earlier this week to reinstate school vouchers for District of Columbia students. The program is the only one in the country that uses federal tax dollars to subsidize private-school tuition.

While the showdown over spending has dominated Congress in recent days, it is only the first in a series of collisions expected in the coming months as the Republicans push to rein in the size and scope of government.

House Republicans are expected to unveil a budget for the next fiscal year next week that includes deep spending cuts in domestic programs as well as steps to remake Medicare and Medicaid. Officials have said that in private conversations, Republicans have set an informal target of reducing budget deficits to $1 trillion by next year, down from about $1.5 trillion for the current year.

Details unseen, Democrats are already eager to attack it as too harsh. But conservatives in the Republican Study Conference are expected to outline an alternative with even tighter deficit cuts.

The Treasury also has put lawmakers on notice that an increase in the government’s borrowing authority will be needed later this spring. Some conservatives have already announced they will oppose any such measure, while others have laid down conditions that appear unlikely to be met.

Boehner and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said the GOP will demand changes to rein in future spending before the increase can pass.

One priority, unveiled in the Senate with the support of all 47 Republicans, is a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget except in cases of war or national security emergency.

And then:

(Bloomberg) House Speaker John Boehner began making the case for a spending compromise resisted by Tea Party activists as Republicans and Democrats worked on details of a proposal to cut about $33 billion from this year’s budget.

As Tea Party groups gathered outside the Capitol to rally against a deal, Boehner said Republicans have limited power to insist on the $61 billion in spending reductions and numerous policy directives they proposed. Still, he promised they would fight for the largest possible cuts.

“We control one half of one-third of the government here in Washington,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters in Washington. “All we can do is to fight for all of the spending cuts we can get an agreement to.”

Both sides cautioned the emerging deal, prodded along by President Barack Obama’s team, could collapse if they are unable to agree on what spending to cut and whether to include so- called policy riders, such as proposals to curb the Environmental Protection Agency’s powers.

“We have agreed on a number. We haven’t agreed how to get to that number,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. His fellow Democrats, Reid said, “know that cuts must be made, but they must be smart cuts.”

Like Boehner, the Senate leader will have to persuade some reluctant members of his own party to accept any agreement.

“We’ll continue talking and continue working to find a middle ground,” Reid said.

But then:

CBS News:

Democrats are saying that they’ve reached a compromise figure with Republicans on budget cuts, but GOP House Speaker John Boehner — facing increasing pressure from the Tea Party — says that’s not true.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today that Democrats and Republicans “have agreed upon a number on which to base our budget cuts,” echoing remarks from Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday night. Both Democrats say the parties have agreed to cut a record $33 billion from the rest of this year’s budget, which covers about six months. If Congress doesn’t agree to a new spending bill by April 8, the federal government will shut down.

Boehner told reporters today, however, that lawmakers are working to come to an agreement on cuts but have not agreed to stop at $33 billion. “There is no agreement on numbers and nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to,” he said.

In his remarks today, Reid echoed Democratic talking points that Boehner is paying heed to the Tea Party elements of his party, who want to see the Senate pass (at the very least) the House-approved budget that cuts $61 billion.

“I appreciate Speaker Boehner’s participation in these talks,” Reid said. “I’m sure it’s not easy trying to negotiate with the Tea Party screaming in his right ear.”

Tea Party groups are ratcheting up their pressure on Boehner today with a rally outside of the Capitol, with House Tea Party Caucus leader Rep. Michele Bachmann planning to speak. If Boehner fails to cut enough from the budget, Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots told the Associated Press, Tea Partiers could mount a primary challenge against the speaker.

Meckler said “you’re going to see massive amounts” of primary challenges against Republican lawmakers, including Boehner, next year if Republicans go along with the plan to cut $33 billion.

Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation already said in a message to his organization today that “Boehner must go.”

“The Tea Party must unite and make sure Boehner is replaced in the next election,” he wrote. “We need people in leadership who are committed to cutting spending and eliminating these programs.”