[h=3]By SIOBHAN HUGHES[/h] The Senate on Thursday failed to pass either a Democratic bill to avert across-the-board spending cuts before they begin Friday or a Republican alternative to blunt the impact.
Both measures died after they failed to meet the 60-vote majority needed to be officially brought to the floor. President Barack Obama has asked congressional Republican and Democratic leaders to come the White House on Friday to hash out differences.
"We'll do something sensible after we've tried everything else," said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.).
Republicans and Democrats have spent weeks trying to blame each other for failing to avoid spending cuts that were once thought impossible. A 2011 debt deal mandated the cuts only if Congress failed to come up with some other way to achieve $1.2 trillion of deficit reduction over a decade. Congress stopped the first two months of the cuts before reaching an impasse.
The vote on the Democratic bill, which would have blocked the $85 billion in cuts until 2014 and replaced them mostly with tax increases on millionaires and cuts in farm programs, was 51-49, mostly along party lines.
Republicans opposed the Democratic bill because they object to raising taxes. They offered an alternative backed by Sens. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) that would have given Mr. Obama the power to allocate the $85 billion in cuts as he saw fit, as long as no more than half of the cuts came from the Pentagon.
"Any competent middle manager of any business in America knows, when you have to tighten your belt, you have to go through and prioritize," Mr. Toomey said.
The GOP alternative was rejected 62-38. Eight Republicans voted against it, partly over objections to giving Mr. Obama more power over the budget. Democrats objected to the suggestion that giving the administration more discretion would have eased the pain of the cuts.
"It is mindless to say we are going to cut $1 billion from the Department of Transportation and no one will feel it. Please don't sugar coat it and say there's this magic wand out there," said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.).
The battle now moves to a new front: a measure to keep the government funded beyond March 27. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R., Ky.) on Wednesday said the House would vote next week on his plan, which would ensure that the $85 billion in spending cuts mandated through fiscal 2013 remain intact. His spending measure is written to give the Pentagon greater ability to allocate spending among various programs.
--Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.
Both measures died after they failed to meet the 60-vote majority needed to be officially brought to the floor. President Barack Obama has asked congressional Republican and Democratic leaders to come the White House on Friday to hash out differences.
"We'll do something sensible after we've tried everything else," said Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.).
Republicans and Democrats have spent weeks trying to blame each other for failing to avoid spending cuts that were once thought impossible. A 2011 debt deal mandated the cuts only if Congress failed to come up with some other way to achieve $1.2 trillion of deficit reduction over a decade. Congress stopped the first two months of the cuts before reaching an impasse.
The vote on the Democratic bill, which would have blocked the $85 billion in cuts until 2014 and replaced them mostly with tax increases on millionaires and cuts in farm programs, was 51-49, mostly along party lines.
Republicans opposed the Democratic bill because they object to raising taxes. They offered an alternative backed by Sens. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) that would have given Mr. Obama the power to allocate the $85 billion in cuts as he saw fit, as long as no more than half of the cuts came from the Pentagon.
"Any competent middle manager of any business in America knows, when you have to tighten your belt, you have to go through and prioritize," Mr. Toomey said.
The GOP alternative was rejected 62-38. Eight Republicans voted against it, partly over objections to giving Mr. Obama more power over the budget. Democrats objected to the suggestion that giving the administration more discretion would have eased the pain of the cuts.
"It is mindless to say we are going to cut $1 billion from the Department of Transportation and no one will feel it. Please don't sugar coat it and say there's this magic wand out there," said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D., Ill.).
The battle now moves to a new front: a measure to keep the government funded beyond March 27. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R., Ky.) on Wednesday said the House would vote next week on his plan, which would ensure that the $85 billion in spending cuts mandated through fiscal 2013 remain intact. His spending measure is written to give the Pentagon greater ability to allocate spending among various programs.
--Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.