Democrats are planning to float a massive omnibus appropriations bill to “split the difference” between the spending proposals of the White House and Congress in an attempt to broker a compromise to the increasingly contentious budget standoff, Senate leaders said Thursday.

“We’re in the process of letting him know that we’re going to send him another piece of legislation, and this one likely will be to split the difference,” Reid said. “And that has some tremendously difficult cuts.”

It is unclear whether the White House or congressional Republicans will accept that plan. Senate Republicans hold a potent weapon to split up an omnibus bill — a rule revised by the new ethics law that allows them to strip out new provisions “airdropped” into a bicameral conference committee.

But Reid said that doing so would delay the process even further, and called on the Republicans to back the Democratic approach.

“We believe there are priorities in the country other than funding the war in Iraq,” Reid said.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the omnibus bill would likely include all the pending bills, but he did not know whether it would include funding for veterans and military construction programs. Durbin said an increase in veterans and military construction programs may be funded through a continuing resolution.

“If [Bush] says no [to the omnibus], we’ll go to plan C,” Durbin stated.

The Illinois Democrat downplayed the prospects of a government shutdown, saying “it won’t be on our watch, by our doing. If Republicans decide to force their hand on this, I can’t tell you what the outcome will be.”