Little progress in budget bill endgame

WASHINGTON -- A bullish President Barack Obama said Friday that compromise is close with Republicans on $33 billion in budget cuts, and he warned that without a deal the ensuing government shutdown would "jeopardize our economic recovery" just as jobs are finally being created.

Despite his assessment, negotiators reported little progress, Senate Democrats backtracked on a key concession from earlier in the week and Congress' top Republican sounded less optimistic than the president that a breakthrough was imminent.

"There is no number. There is no agreement on a number" on how much to cut, insisted House Speaker John Boehner, who is under pressure from tea party-backed conservatives not to give too much ground. Still, he added, "I am not preparing for a government shutdown." Funding for the government expires next Friday at midnight, and without action by Congress, a partial shutdown would follow.

The day's events occurred against a backdrop of unusually upbeat news about the economy, which is still recovering from the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Labor Department reported that companies added 216,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.8 percent.

Nearly six weeks after the House passed a bill calling for $61 billion in cuts, it appeared the endgame was at hand in the first of what is expected to be a series of battles over the size and scope of government.

"We will be working through the weekend to forge a compromise," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). At Republican insistence, Congress has already cut $10 billion in spending as part of a pair of stopgap spending bills to keep the government open for business.

While another short-term bill has not been ruled out, Obama, Boehner, Reid and others have said they would prefer to complete work on a six-month bill to close out the budget year.

Republicans are looking ahead to unveiling a 2012 budget next week, after weighing privately whether to delay so they could focus all of their attention on the current clash.

Shortly before Obama spoke, Reid shifted the Democrats' position on one key element of the talks, in apparent deference to environmentalists angered by an earlier concession.

House Republicans included provisions in their $61-billion package of spending cuts that would block the EPA from implementing regulations on a variety of industries.