Deep Divide Lingers After Impasse Ends; Pessimism Greets Lawmakers as They Start Negotiations on Broad Budget Deal
WASHINGTON--Eight hours after President Barack Obama signed a bill to reopen the federal government, top congressional budget leaders from both parties gathered over breakfast to try to find common ground in coming weeks.</br></br>But differences between the two sides remain stark, and a number of congressional aides said the chances of devising a budget that both parties can live with are low. The conference committee the lawmakers head faces a Dec. 13 deadline under the package Congress approved late Wednesday.</br></br>Republicans are pushing for deep changes and cost reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, and a rollback of Pentagon cuts that are part of the so-called sequester. Democrats have demanded that tax increases and a reduction in other sequester cuts be part of any package.</br></br>The breakfast session of four senior lawmakers, including House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D., Wash.), came as hundreds of thousands of workers returned to the job at federal agencies, restarting government data analysis on unemployment and crop prices, reopening national parks and resuming scientific research.</br></br>The lawmakers who met Thursday are part of a 29-person budget conference committee that will work to reconcile differing tax and spending goals approved by the House and Senate earlier this year. Mr. Ryan and Ms. Murray said they would try to move past the acrimony surrounding the 16-day government shutdown and find areas of agreement in coming weeks, but made no assurances of success and avoided setting goals.