From the NYT:
President Obama called on Wednesday for high-level negotiations to bridge major budgetary differences between Congressional Republicans and Democrats after the Senate passed a measure to buy at least two more weeks for talks.
After the Senate’s bipartisan 91-to-9 vote in a favor of a bill that keeps federal agencies open through March 18 while enacting $4 billion in new spending cuts, Mr. Obama urged House and Senate leaders to meet with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and two top aides to work out a longer-term budget agreement. . . .
The two-week measure approved Wednesday includes a down payment on those cuts by slicing $4 billion from spending by rescinding nearly $2.8 billion that would have been spent on local projects through earmarks that both parties have banned. Another $1.2 billion is saved by eliminating eight programs both Republicans and Democrats have agreed to cut in the past.
Those cuts include $75 million in election grants; $29 million to help rural communities develop broadband networks; $30 million in unneeded Smithsonian renovation money; $250 million for a reading program;, and $650 million in added highway spending.
From the Hill, background on the increased contention between the two chambers.
