Obama threatens to veto Republican spending bill

US President Barack Obama threatened to veto a short-term spending bill put forward by Republicans to avoid a government shutdown on Friday over a row on setting a budget through October 1.
Obama said he was committed to working with Republicans to agree on spending cuts designed to peg back the soaring budget deficit, but that another in a succession of short-term spending plans would only delay a final deal.
"It is critical that the Congress send a final bill to the president's desk that provides certainty to our men and women in military uniform, their families, small businesses, homeowners, taxpayers, and all Americans," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
The Republican bill "simply delays that critical final outcome," it said, in the latest political maneuvering ahead of a midnight Friday deadline to reach a deal and avert a government shutdown.
"If presented with this bill, the president will veto it."
The House bill would cut some $12 billion in government outlays and fund the US military to October 1.
The measure, however, was seen as unlikely ever to pass the Senate.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's top ally in the US Senate warned yesterday that talks on spending cuts were stalled on issues tied to abortion and the environment and that the US government seemed set to shutdown at midnight Friday.
"If this government shuts down -- and it looks like it's headed in that direction," Republicans will be to blame for insisting on "matters that have nothing to do" with spending, said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid said that, on spending cuts, "the numbers are basically there" and both sides are "extremely close" after aides worked throughout the night following a meeting at the White House late Wednesday.
But "I am not nearly as optimistic -- and that's an understatement -- as I was 11 hours ago," he said.