Budget

Sens. Levin and Inhofe said "a concrete demonstration" of the cuts may be the only way to halt sequestration.

Budget analysts say a bill from House Republicans could make November the new deadline for a debt-ceiling increase.

The Club for Growth and Heritage Action will demand lawmakers pass a path to a balanced budget in 10 years before raising the debt ceiling.

A majority of people have no opinion about the sequester despite the flight delays that were attributed to it last week, according to a new poll.

Gallup surveyed 1,025 people on April 29-30 and found 52 percent did not know enough about the spending cuts under the sequester to offer an opinion.

Thirty percent of people in the poll said the sequester was a good thing, while 17 percent said it was a bad thing. 

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that it was “literally impossible” for the Pentagon to incorporate $52 billion in cuts under sequestration in its 2014 budget.

Dempsey pushed back against criticism from Republicans, who have argued the Pentagon should have lived by the budget caps set by the sequester in the 2014 budget. The Pentagon requested a base budget in 2014 of $526 billion, $52 billion above the budget caps under sequestration.

Dempsey said that because sequestration didn’t take effect until March 1, the Pentagon wouldn’t have had the time to prepare a completely separate budget for that scenario.

Voters continue to be very concerned about the national debt and Social Security, according to a poll by the Peterson Foundation, which is pushing for a debt bargain. Read more...

“There is no negotiating over whether or not the United States pays its bills,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen said.

The government will pay off $35 billion in debt during the second quarter of 2013.

“The Democrats are conceding that they have lost the battle over spending cuts,” said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean.

White House chief of staff Denis McDonough was among several senior Obama aides to attend the meeting.