Government shutdown: No talks happening, but lots of insults flying

WASHINGTON — A week into the government shutdown, the only conversations going on between the warring camps seem to be laced with insults.

Monday morning began with the top spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) accusing House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) of having a “credibility problem” for denying that a “clean” spending bill — one without any proposals to alter the healthcare law — could win a bipartisan majority in the House.

Boehner’s office countered that it was “time for Senate Democrats to stow their faux outrage and deal with the problems at hand.”

The tête-à-tête between leadership aides comes as lawmakers return from their one day off this weekend with only a light schedule. While the Senate holds votes on a pair of lower-court nominations, the House will vote on another in a series of targeted spending bills they’ve offered to resume certain high-profile government functions, this time the Food and Drug Administration.

FULL COVERAGE: The U.S. government shutdown

The House voted unanimously Saturday to provide back pay for hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers. They’ve also voted to resume veterans benefits and a supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children (known as WIC), pay National Guard members and reservists, reopen national parks and museums, and fund the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Despite the “rifle-shot” approach to extend funding in certain areas, Boehner said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that “there are not the votes in the House to pass a clean CR” — or continuing resolution, a broader government funding bill.

“We’re interested in having a conversation about how we open the government and how we begin to pay our bills. But it begins with a simple conversation,” Boehner said, criticizing what he called President Obama’s “my way or the highway” approach.

“That’s what he’s saying. Complete surrender and then we’ll talk to you,” the speaker said.

Adam Jentleson, the Reid spokesman, pointed to reports indicating as many as two dozen Republicans could join a near-unanimous Democratic minority to pass a clean spending bill.

“There is now a consistent pattern of Speaker Boehner saying things that fly in the face of the facts or stand at odds with his past actions,” Jentleson said. “Today, Speaker Boehner should stop the games and let the House vote on the Senate’s clean CR so that the entire federal government can reopen within 24 hours.”

Michael Steel, Boehner’s spokesman, said the shutdown was caused by Democrats’ refusal to negotiate. “It’s time for some Washington Democrat to step up, act like an adult, and start talking about how we reopen the government, provide fairness for the American people under Obamacare and deal with the drivers of our debt and deficits.”

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