memeorandum: Congressional leaders close to agreement on budget deal, aides say (Washington Post)

12:00 PM ET, April 9, 2011

Top Items:

Congressional Sources: White House Reviewing Terms of Spending Deal — The likelihood of a war-time federal government shutdown—the first in American history—diminished dramatically on Friday night as all parties began reviewing, with the goal of approving, a broad array of cuts …

Discussion: Datechguy's Blog, Hot Air, Guardian, The Mahablog, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story, Taylor Marsh, AMERICAblog News, Weigel, Pajamas Media, msnbc.com, The Caucus, National Review, The Democratic Daily, Marginal Revolution, The Politico and The Note

David Rogers / The Politico:

Government shutdown averted, White House and Republicans reach deal — After a long day of trading offers, the White House and House Republicans reached agreement Friday night on a budget framework that would cap 2011 appropriations near or below $1.050 trillion while cutting domestic …

Discussion: The Other McCain, Outside the Beltway, Guardian, Another Black Conservative, DCist, The Monkey Cage, Scared Monkeys, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hot Air, msnbc.com and Pat Dollard

Washington Post:

Congressional leaders close to agreement on budget deal, aides say — Gallery: Government shutdown 2011: Democrats and Republicans have so far failed to reach an agreement on the 2011 federal budget, increasing the likelihood of the first government shutdown in more than 15 years.

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

Conservatives Urge Boehner to Cut a Budget Deal and Move On — Michele Bachmann speaking to Tea Party demonstrators outside the US Capitol Thursday afternoon. — Are Republicans ready to declare victory in the shutdown showdown and move on? — For days, the assumption has been that Speaker John …

Discussion: Lynn Sweet, Booman Tribune, The Daily Dish and ThinkProgress

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

Report: Tentative Deal on Budget Being Reviewed by White House (UPDATE: Deal Reached) — Editor's Note: A short term deal has been reached, according to both Rep. Boehner and President Obama. Bumped. — Marc Ambinder at National Journal breaks the news of a deal framework on the 2011 budget …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post and Suburban Guerrilla

Fox News:

Congress Strikes a Budget Deal to Avert Shutdown, Cutting $38.5B — Congressional leaders, with barely an hour to go before a federal government, announced late Friday night they had reached a deal to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. — The deal includes $38.5 billion …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Questions and Observations, Fox Nation, The Gateway Pundit and The Jawa Report

The Hill:

Last-minute budget deal staves off government shutdown — President Obama and Democratic and Republican congressional leaders reached a last-minute deal Friday to avoid a government shutdown. — The agreement, which came after days of partisan sparring and rhetorical drama …

Discussion: The Hill, Ballot Box, iOwnTheWorld.com and National Review

Associated Press:

Congress, White House reach deal to avoid government shutdown, cite ‘historic’ spending cuts — WASHINGTON — Perilously close to a government shutdown, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders forged agreement late Friday night on a deal to cut about $38 billion in federal spending and avert the first closure in 15 years.

Discussion: White House.gov Blog, The Moderate Voice, Pat Dollard, Bangor Daily News and Tennessee Guerilla Women

Brian Beutler / TPMDC:

It's A Deal: Dems, Republicans Strike Spending Deal To Avoid Government Shutdown — They've got a deal! — Their negotiations have teetered erratically on the brink of collapse for weeks. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner have finally shaken hands …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, ECHIDNE of the snakes, Shakesville and Suburban Guerrilla

Washington Post:

Budget fight shows Washington still broken — Gallery: Government shutdown 2011: Congressional leaders agreed late Friday to a compromise that will keep the federal government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year. — As the midnight Friday deadline loomed for a possible government shutdown …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Right Wing News, Bloomberg, American Power and Daily Kos

Bob Cusack / The Hill:
Deal falls short of GOP cut pledge; ‘As good as we could get,’ Boehner says

Discussion: American Times and The Blaze

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:
Minutes to shutdown, Congress strikes budget deal

Discussion: Hot Air

The Hill:
House, Senate pass one-week spending bill to buy time for deal

Discussion: The Nation

Matthew Cooper / NationalJournal.com:
The Budget Skirmish Ends. The War Begins

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Taegan Goddard's … and The Sundries Shack

Roll Call:
Deal Close to Avert Shutdown

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Sean J. Miller / Ballot Box:
Democrats make pitch for contributions to make Boehner ‘cry’

Discussion: The Hill and Weasel Zippers

Rep. Michele Bachmann / RedState:
Not a Big Enough Fight

Discussion: Derek Wallbank, Guardian, TPMDC, protein wisdom, Outside the Beltway, The Note, Pajamas Media, Bloomberg, Firedoglake, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, American Power and Weigel

Wall Street Journal:
Budget Talks Sputter; Parties Trade Barbs

Discussion: Washington Post and The Huffington Post

Carrie Dann / msnbc.com:
Reports point to a deal, but the clock's still ticking

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and The Democratic Daily

CNN:
Democrats, Republicans agree on a budget deal

Discussion: Reuters, This Just In, Zandar Versus The Stupid, The Daily What, TalkLeft, Speaker, Daily Kos, Politics, Gawker, Global Public Square, New York Times and The Hill

Stan Collender / Capital Gains and Games blogs:
The Shutdown Problem This September is Going to be Even Worse

Discussion: A plain blog about politics, The Daily Dish and Calculated Risk

NationalJournal.com:
Countdown to Shutdown: NJ Liveblogs the Remaining Hours of Negotiations

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Atlantic Online, CNN, Guardian, National Review, Christianity Today, TPMDC, The Hill and Wall Street Journal

Major Garrett / NationalJournal.com:
Muted Abortion Response Speaks Volumes

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, New York Magazine and Hot Air

Darren Goode / The Politico:
EPA riders axed, lawmakers say

Discussion: Don Surber, Runnin' Scared, Salon, Politics, TPMDC, Firedoglake, Daily Kos and The Daily Dish

Mark Steyn / National Review:

Ending America as We Know It — Hey, it's the weekend, and everyone's singing the same maddeningly catchy refrain! Rebecca Black's “Friday”? Nah, that was last week's moronic singalong. This week's is even perkier! “Paul Ryan proposes to end Medicare as we know it,” sings former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta.

Discussion: Questions and Observations

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

The Brave and Serious Mr. Ryan — I mentioned earlier that if asked to choose an adjective to describe the budget plan presented by Rep. Paul Ryan, I would suggest “partisan” or “gimmicky,” as opposed to “serious” or “brave.” Most budget proposals are both partisan and gimmicky, so this is no particular knock against Rep. Ryan.

Discussion: Paul Krugman, The New Republic, Balloon Juice, AMERICAblog News, The Daily Dish, Firedoglake, MyDD, Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Myglesias / Yglesias:

The Success Of Hostage-Taking Highlights The Importance of Elections — Details on the appropriations deal are still hard to come by, but you don't need the details to know that substantial short-term cuts in domestic discretionary spending will hurt the poor while harming macroeconomic performance.

Discussion: Washington Monthly

The United States Department of Justice:

Justice Department Requires Google Inc. to Develop and License Travel Software in Order to Proceed with Its Acquisition of ITA Software Inc. … WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice announced today that in order for Google Inc. to proceed with its proposed acquisition of ITA Software Inc. …

Discussion: New York Times, The Official Google Blog, Mashable!, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Engadget, Epicenter, Law Blog, TechCrunch and The Huffington Post, more at Techmeme »

Josiah Ryan / The Hill:

Schumer likens conservatives to a flea — Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) compared House conservatives to a flea Friday as rhetoric in the spending fight intensified. — Schumer, who has been criticizing Republicans all day, said in a floor speech Friday that conservatives were the flea controlling the dog …

Discussion: Mediaite, Weasel Zippers, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, iOwnTheWorld.com and Swampland