Two Parties in Major Showdown on Budget

Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided over budget issues. And that will make it extremely difficult for the two parties to avoid a government shutdown as they seek to pass a spending plan for the rest of the fiscal year, Politico reports.

The Republican budget proposal includes riders to shrink spending on healthcare reform, Planned Parenthood, financial reform and climate change. Democrats already have agreed to more budget cuts than they can stomach. So they strongly object to the additional reductions.

But conservatives don’t want to budge on those issues. Some of these planks are necessary to push the budget through the House, Kentucky Republican Rep. Hal Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told Politico. “As we’ve seen, many of these riders are a critical part of getting it through,” he said.