Reid backs 30-day spending extension

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Tuesday he will introduce a 30-day continuing budget resolution for 2011 to "give Democrats and Republicans time to negotiate a responsible path forward."

The House passed a budget on Friday that makes deep cuts and will be unpalatable to many Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate.

When the Senate reconvenes on Monday it will have just have five days to craft a budget solution acceptable to the House and the president before government funding for the year runs dry and a shutdown occurs.

"It would be the height of irresponsibility to shut down the government without any negotiations, as Republicans are threatening to do," said Reid. "A shutdown could send our fragile economy back into a recession, and mean no Social Security checks for seniors, less funding for border security and no paychecks for our troops."

In a press conference last week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)indicated that House Republicans would not accept a short extension that did not make cuts similar to those in the fiscal year 2011 budget.