Durbin: More deficit reduction needed, but not out of discretionary spending

The No. 2 Senate Democrat said Sunday that he is open to cutting federal spending in the name of deficit reduction.

Speaking
on “Fox News Sunday,” Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he was open
to federal spending reduction, just not from discretionary spending.

“I’m willing to see more deficit reduction but not out of domestic
discretionary spending,” Durbin said.

Durbin
added though that he thought cutting an additional $10 billion, which
the White House had proposed, was too much.

“I think we’ve pushed this to the limit,” Durbin said.

Durbin’s
comments come as Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to
remain in something of a deadlock over passing a long-term federal
spending bill. Republicans and Democrats have been able to come to an
agreement on short-term continuing resolutions to keep the government
running for a matter of weeks but they have yet to pass a longer-term
bill that would keep the government funded for more than a few weeks.