Democrats need to meet GOP halfway on $61 billion cut, Rep. Shimkus says

Congress will continue to pass bills funding the government for only a few weeks at a time until Democrats meet the GOP halfway on cuts, a House Republican said.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said Democrats need to back $30 billion in cuts for the rest of the fiscal year if any headway is going to be made in the negotiations over a spending bill. 

"I think if [Democrats] aren't going to get closer to the $30 billion halfway mark, we're going to continue to do the … [short term] continuing resolution," Shimkus told Illinois radio affiliate WLS.890.

House Republicans passed a continuing resolution in February that would fund the government and cut $61 billion in spending.

Shimkus's answer came in response to a question about comments by his delegation colleague, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who said on Fox News Sunday that he was against cutting more than $10.5 billion in discretionary, non-defense federal spending.

"How is that half? It's not halfway," Shimkus said.

Democrats and Republicans have been in a virtual impasse over a long-term federal spending measure, clashing over how much money should be cut from the federal budget. Congressional Republicans want to cut $57 billion more of federal spending this year, but Democrats say those cuts are far too deep.