U.S. budget negotiators far from deal, move behind closed doors
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. budget negotiators said on Wednesday they were still far from an agreement and put off scheduling any other public meetings as talks to ease automatic spending cuts moved behind closed doors.
The 29-member congressional negotiating committee trying to set spending levels for fiscal 2014 has largely ceded negotiating authority to its top Republican, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and its Democratic leader, Senator Patty Murray from Washington state.
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about our differences,” said Ryan. “That’s the easy part. The hard part is figuring out where we agree.” Continue reading “U.S. budget negotiators far from deal, move behind closed doors”