WASHINGTON – The White House called for $6.5 billion in immediate spending cuts Thursday as negotiations opened with tea party-backed Republicans in Congress seeking reductions nearly 10 times as large in their drive to reduce the size of federal government.

 “The conversation will continue,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a one-sentence statement after an hourlong meeting with Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and other top congressional leaders.

 Boehner’s spokesman, Brendan Buck, said before the meeting that cuts of that magnitude were “little more than the status quo.”

 The talks, in Biden’s private office just off the Senate floor, marked the beginning of an attempt by the White House and top lawmakers to agree on legislation to cut spending and avert a partial government shutdown when current funding authority expires on March 18.

Associated Press