Budget

The House Speaker and Senate majority leader directed aides to work through the night to try to avoid a shutdown.

After a contentious markup, the 2012 budget plan was approved by the Budget Committee along party lines.

The Obama administration warned Wednesday that a government shutdown would do more than close the Smithsonian.

Time is running out before a possible government shutdown, and the budget discussion is getting increasingly urgent.

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House Republicans said they wanted a full-throated conversation on America’s deepest fiscal problems — they got that on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will head back to the White House on Wednesday night to discuss a budget agreement.

"We're going to continue the conversation we've been having for weeks with this administration," Reid said on the floor. 

Reid reiterated that he wants to avoid a government shutdown and still hopes to reach consensus on a budget deal to fund the government through Sept. 30. 

"We're not going to give up, we're going to keep talking to find a middle ground," Reid said on the floor. 

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is pushing legislation to make lawmakers eligible for their federal retirement benefits only when they reach Social Security retirement age. 

The legislation comes amid a string of attempts from Senate liberals to protect Social Security — which posted a deficit last year but is also on track to deliver full benefits for another quarter-century. For his part, Brown has said he would fight any proposal to boost the retirement age, which stands at 67 for those born in 1960 or after. 

“Raising the Social Security retirement age might sound fair to politicians who come to work every day in a suit and tie, but it’s a nonstarter for working Ohioans who stand on their feet all day long in a restaurant or on a factory floor,” Brown said in a statement. 

Blue Dog Rep. Health Shuler (D-N.C.) broke with his party and voted with House Budget Committee Republicans in favor extending Bush-era tax cuts for those making more than $1 million per year. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 14 to 23, with all other Democrats present voting in favor and all Republicans voting no.

The vote was on the first Democratic amendment to the budget authored by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Offered by Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), the amendment sparked heated debate in the committee causing Ryan to bang the gavel for the first time during the marathon markup.

The National Association of Counties has expressed concern that the House GOP’s 2012 budget plan would end up increasing the burden on local governments. 

“We believe that deficit reduction should not be accomplished by shifting costs to counties, imposing unfunded mandates, or pre-empting county programs or taxing authority,” Larry Naake, NACo’s executive director, wrote in a letter to Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Budget Committee. 

States are fearing what a shutdown of the federal government might mean in their backyards.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) might have inadvertently made the case for tax increases in his budget proposal.

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) announced his opposition to a bipartisan commission to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Dish Network now owns Blockbuster after winning it in an auction.

An SEC probe into Fannie Mae could include an examination of a former executive's congressional testimony.