So nothing has changed?

I have been away for week and a half on vacation. When I left, the deal to fund the government until April 8th was just getting passed. Now, a week and a half later, nothing has changed. The Democrats are still blocking pogress and accusing the Republicans of wanting a government shutdown. The Republicans are still calling for cuts of 61 billion dollars. The media is still focused on whether or not there is a split in the GOP. Yesterday, Chuck Schumer was caught on tape telling someone that he had been instructed by the Democrat caucus to call the Republican positions "extreme". No surprise there, just more of the same.

The truth is that the Democrats now clim that they are willing to agree to anothr 20 billion of cuts, although they do notspecify what those cuts will be. The Republicans say that they will not respond to an offer until it gets made. So why the hold up? It seems that the Democrats are intentionally trying to get shut down. Otherwise, it would be an easy move for the Democrats to come forward with specific cuts for 20 additional billion in cuts and put it to the GOP. My guess is that were the Dems to actually off the 20 billion, the GOP would compromise down from an additional 50 billion to say 40 billion or even 35 billion. Of course, that would put enormous pressure on the Democrats to go a bt further. After all, 15 billion is chump change in the context of the total budget. If there were a final compromis on an additional 35 billion of cuts, that would mean that the total cuts were 46 billion. Such cuts would be an enormous victory for those who say that spending is out of control and it would set the mood for the discussion of the 2012 budget which will begin shortly. It would also mean that the GOP deliered on its pledge to cut 100 billion from the Obama budget proposal by gettng a total of 85 billion in cuts.

My guess is that the Dems will cave on this as the date gets closer. After all, no one will accept the GOP cuts as extreme when Harry Reid holds up the Nevada Cowboy Poetry Festival as his example of extreme cuts.