GOP gains upper hand on spending

Politico reports:

With a bipartisan compromise fading, Democrats appear resigned to another short-term, year-end spending bill that sets up an early fight in the new Congress between the White House and newly empowered Republicans demanding deep cuts in domestic appropriations.

“It’s touch and go, at the best,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) told POLITICO on Tuesday of his efforts to strike some accord by cutting close to $26 billion from President Barack Obama’s 2011 budget. Instead, Republicans want no increase above 2010 funding and are maneuvering to buy enough time so the incoming GOP majority in the House can instigate tens of billions in additional rescissions, rolling back many programs to 2008 levels.