House plans third stopgap bill

WASHINGTON – With budget talks deadlocked, House Republicans drafted a one-week bill Monday night to cut spending by $12 billion, fully fund the Pentagon and avert a government shutdown threatened for Friday.

At the same time, they disclosed plans to instruct lawmakers “on how the House would operate in the event Senate Democrats shut down the government.”

The display of brinksmanship came at the end of a day marked by increasing acrimony in budget negotiations, and drew a sarcastic response from Democrats.

“House Republicans should focus on negotiating, not planning dress rehearsals for a shutdown that the tea party so desires,” said Jon Summers, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

He said Democrats “remain committed to negotiating a solution that would prevent a government shutdown.”

With little progress evident toward a long-term compromise, Obama invited key lawmakers to the White House.

“Time is of the essence,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney, announcing plans for a meeting today. “We need to get this work done.”

Congress has already passed a pair of stopgap bills to keep the government in operation for a total of five weeks, with a total of $10 billion in spending cuts attached at Republican insistence.