Top Democrat Hoyer says GOP is stalling on budget

“Sequestration is working. You can’t raise taxes high enough to satisfy the appetite of Washington to spend money.”

— Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

The No. 2 Democrat in the House said Tuesday that the top GOP negotiator on the budget is not interested in finding a compromise that would replace automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is not engaging in “a serious effort to reach agreement” and hasn’t forwarded an offer to Democrats.

“They are not interested in compromise,” Hoyer said of Republicans.

Across the Capitol, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell laid out a hard line against efforts to ease the spending cuts, undercutting already faltering House-Senate negotiations to replace the cuts.

Their comments came as a cloud of pessimism has descended over the budget talks, which are aimed at avoiding a repeat of this fall’s government shutdown and threat of a federal debt default. Democrats insist that some of the deficit savings to replace the cuts come from closing tax loopholes and Republicans say they won’t allow that.

“Reaching agreement will require compromise and both sides moving to a compromise position,” Hoyer told reporters. “I don’t believe that Mr. Ryan believes that if he did that he could bring it back to the House” and get enough GOP votes to pass it.

Countered Ryan spokesman William Allison,”Chairman Ryan is committed to finding common ground. He hopes both parties can work together to cut spending in a smarter way.”

McConnell, R-Ky., speaking during a closed-door meeting of House Republicans,urged them to maintain the tight spending limits under sequestration. He reiterated to reporters Tuesday afternoon that he supports the decade-long cuts, which took effect this year as a result of Congress’ failure to follow up a 2011 budget deal with alternative cuts.

“I think it is a bad idea to revisit a law that is actually working and reducing spending,” McConnell said.

McConnell urged Republicans to preserve a tight $967 billion cap on agency operating budgets in the 2014 budget year, even though GOP defense hawks are worried that it will require a cut of about $20 billion from the Pentagon.

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart, however, said the Kentucky senator is open to a budget compromise that would lift the cap if offsetting cuts were made to so-called mandatory government programs whose budgets tend to increase as if on autopilot.

“I do hope at the end of the day we support the Budget Control Act. It’s the law of the land,” McConnell said. “It’s been highly successful. We’ve reduced government spending for the first time since the Korean War.”