After a closed door meeting with GOP leaders on Wednesday, rank and file Republicans in the House signaled their approval of plans to push ahead next week with a bill to fund the operations of the government, a plan which would also maintain the $85 billion in budget cuts in the sequester due to hit on Friday.
"I think it's a good way forward," said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), who said he would readily support the $974 billion post-sequester funding level for the discretionary budget, down from the current funding level of $1.047 trillion.
"I think it's great we're doing this three, four weeks before the deadline," Westmoreland added, referring to end date for a temporary budget for the federal government which runs out on March 27.
The idea is basically to extend government funding through the end of the fiscal year and pair that with language which will better focus the automatic cuts and give a bit more leeway to the Pentagon to shift around money to deal with the sequester.
"We think we do need to reduce spending, but when you do that, you want to do it intelligently," said Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a new freshmen GOP lawmaker.
"The question is, what is the Senate going to do?" DeSantis said just off the House floor.
The short answer to that is, probably nothing, as the Senate is expected to throw procedural hurdles in front of plans from both Democrats and Republicans on Thursday.
The Democratic plan, which would raise taxes on the wealthy and focus budget cuts on farm and defense programs, would actually increase the budget deficit by $7.2 billion over ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The Republicans plan isn't a true alternative to the sequester, as those cuts would be maintained, though the Pentagon would be given more leeway to shift around money to deal with budget cuts.
The GOP plan though would also allow the President to submit a plan of his own by mid-March which could be blocked by special votes in the House and Senate.
The GOP plan can be seen here, while the Democratic plan can be downloaded here.
Over at the White House on Wednesday, another cabinet official was featured in the daily press briefing, trumpeting warnings of what would happen if the sequester went into effect.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that "as many as 40,000 people will lose jobs," if education money is cut by the sequester.
But reporters pressed Duncan's claim that layoff notices were already being sent out.
Q: Secretary Duncan, you mentioned that school districts are already issuing pink slips to teachers. Can you tell us where that’s happening?
SECRETARY DUNCAN: It’s still early. As most haven’t happened yet, it really has to do with union notification, so most of that stuff will start to happen over the course of March and April.
Meanwhile, the White House stood by the decision made by immigration officials to release hundreds of illegal immigrants who were currently in deportation proceedings.
"This was a decision made by career officials at ICE, without any input from the White House, as a result of fiscal uncertainty over the continuing resolution, as well as possible sequester," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
That didn't wash with Republicans on Capitol Hill, who bitterly denounced the move.
"This policy not only is a shortsighted scare tactic, but it's also a completely inappropriate way to handle our fiscal problems," said Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL).
Rooney pointed to information from a hearing held Wednesday in the House, which showed that the Department of Homeland Security - the umbrella organization for U.S. immigration efforts - spent $7.5 million last year on conferences.
"Instead of letting criminal aliens go free, let's cut waste," Rooney said.
