Hoyer calls for budget compromise to avoid shutdown

By Laura E. Lee, Capital News Service

The House Minority Whip said he opposes short-term continuing resolutions like the one introduced by the House Appropriations Committee on Monday. He said the "episodic, sporadic funding levels" of continuing resolutions, in lieu of passing an overall 2011 budget, do not address the essential challenges of funding the government.

The continuing resolution measure would fund the government for one week. The Department of Defense would receive funding through the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

Hoyer said Congress is not going to solve the budget with non-security cuts and that all aspects of the budget, with the exception of the interest on the national debt, must be on the table in budget negotiations.

Without a continuing resolution, federal employees could face a shutdown that Hoyer calls "costly and demoralizing — not just for federal employees, but demoralizing for the nation."

The ability to compromise is essential to the process, Hoyer said, and tea partyers who rallied on The Hill last week are unwilling to compromise.

Referring to last year's tax cuts, he said, "In December, we made some compromises we didn't like," he said. "We're prepared to compromise" on the budget issues, he said.

Hoyer said the budget is "a reflection of what people think is important."