Dems to Offer GOP Another $20B in Spending Cuts

With the threat of a government shutdown less than two weeks away, all eyes are on the budget. The White House and congressional Democrats are working on a proposal to cut another $20 billion in spending, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal. It’s the biggest cut the administration and Democratic senators have offered thus far, adding to $10 billion in cuts already enacted—but it may be too little for the GOP. Republicans have called for $61 billion in cuts, and Tea Partiers are pushing them to follow through.

As debate rages over this year’s budget, the GOP is looking ahead: House Republicans plan to propose big cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid in the 2012 budget, shifting the focus from discretionary spending—on defense and education, for example—to entitlement programs, which, the Journal notes, play a larger role in the deficit.