CR approval likely this week

The general consensus Sunday was that a proposed three-week continuing
resolution will pass this week.

“We shouldn’t allow the government to shut down,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think [the three-week extension] should and will pass.”

{mosads}McConnell also predicted that not one Senate Republican would vote to raise the debt ceiling unless major efforts are made to reduce the debt, although he would not go into detail as to what major efforts would look like.

“I don’t intend to vote to raise the debt ceiling unless we address the debt,” McConnell said.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) warned that too many cuts in spending would hurt the American people on “State of the Union.”

“We’re not going to balance America’s budget in six months,” he said.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) bragged that the Republican fiscal 2011 budget got more votes from the Senate than the Senate Democrats’ bill on “State of the Union.”

When asked about Senate Republican dissenters who want more than the House’s $61 billion in cuts, Kyl said, “[Sen. Jim] DeMint (R-S.C.) is right we could cut more, but we’re trying to get a bipartisan agreement here.”

“Let’s get this done already,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on “Meet the Press” about passing a budget for this year. “You can’t fund the government two weeks at a time.”

On “Fox News Sunday,” Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) spoke about their proposal to reduce the national debt by $4 trillion over 10 years.

The plan would reduce the number of tax deductions and require Congress to use future revenues to pay down the debt.

“We can increase revenues without increasing taxes,” Chambliss said. “We make a significant change in our tax code.”