Continuous negotiations to solve the problem break down?

Yes indeed, says Harry Reid – and to whom, please tell, is the Senate Majority Leader doing this? assign blame for this impasse?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he said the tea party demands prompted budget talks with the Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to collapse, threatening a government shutdown within two weeks.

“I am extremely disappointed that after weeks of productive negotiations with Speaker Boehner Tea Party Republicans are abandoning all the progress we have made and threatening to shut down the government unless all of their extreme demands are met” the Nevada Democrat said in a statement. “The divide between the Tea Party and mainstream Republicans prevents us from reaching a responsible long-term budget solution that makes smart cuts while protecting American jobs, and prevents us from starting negotiations over the weekend even as the clock ticks down on a government shutdown.

“Apparently these extremists would rather shut down the government and risk sending our economy back into recession rather than work with Democrats, or even their own leadership, to find a responsible compromise.”

So the Tea Party is somehow responsible for the Democrats’ inability to play the game on sensible spending cuts? Let’s analyze some facts:

(1) Republicans (who, as Democrats will tell you, are synonymous with the Tea Party) showed leadership on three separate occasions by voting to prevent a government shutdown.

(2) ‘Extreme demands’ Reid condemns $61 billion cut from $1.6 trillion 2011 budget deficit. That’s four percent of this year’s amount deficit. That’s about 1/4 of our federal budget deficit in February.

(3) Senate Democrats defeated the House-passed 2011 CR last month and then torpedoed their own leadership alternative (I’m looking at you, Harry Reid) by an even greater margin.

(4) The Just the reason Republicans can now make “extreme demands” on how best to fund the federal government is because Democrats he consciously chose to abandon their obligation to pass a budget last year when they controlled the House, Senate and White House. In fact, they didn’t even introduce him.

(5) We are broke and the cuts proposed by Republicans are extremely modest. Here are three visual aids to aid you reach this point: