House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “immediately dismissed” President Obama’s package “of significant new entitlement cuts tied to new tax revenues, calling them ‘no way to lead and move the country forward,'” Politico reports.

“The White House had portrayed the proposal, part of the budget it will release next week, as a compromise with Congressional Republicans that could have put them on track for another run at a grand bargain.”

The Week: Will Obama regret offering to cut Social Security?

President Obama “will offer cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programs in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal,” Reuters reports.

“Under a proposal that would cut the deficit by $1.8 trillion over 10 years, the president will offer to apply a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living increases… That change would result in lower payments to some beneficiaries of the Social Security program for retirees and is staunchly opposed by many congressional Democrats as well as labor and retiree groups.”

“However, the president will only accept these spending cuts if congressional Republicans, for their part, agree to higher taxes… The president’s budget proposal is due to be laid out in full on Wednesday.”

New York Times: “The administration’s hope is to create cracks
in Republicans’ antitax resistance, especially in the Senate, as
constituents complain about the across-the-board cuts in military and
domestic programs that took effect March 1.”

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has become the latest member of President Obama’s Cabinet to give back a portion of his salary, the AP reports.

“The Treasury Department said that Lew would contribute a portion of his salary to non-profit organizations that are supporting people and programs adversely affected by automatic government spending cuts. The amount of Lew’s contribution and the organizations receiving the money are still being worked out.”

The New York Times notes Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also agreed to a pay cut.

When it comes to the federal budget deficit, a new Marist Poll finds 50% of voters nationally have more faith in President Obama than in the Republicans in Congress to handle the issue.

This compares with 41% who have more faith in the Republicans in
Congress to make the correct choices and 8% who trust neither the
president nor the Congressional GOP.

David Hawkings: “April in Washington is supposed to be all about immigration and gun control, with potentially climactic moments on course for both. But those expectations will prove illusory in the first days after the House and Senate return from recess next week, when headlines will come from a couple of high-profile maneuvers in the budget wars.”

“The maneuvers will be largely meaningless, despite the headlines, but the consequences for the outcome could be immense, one way or the other.”

First Read: “As Obama is set to unveil his budget next week, it raises these two questions: Will it simply reaffirm what Senate Democrats recently passed? Or will it lay out a potential path to compromise with House Republicans? After all, White House budgets typically come BEFORE the Senate and House act on theirs. But Obama’s budget is coming AFTER the two chambers already passed their respective budgets. And it puts the White House in a bind. If it lays out a potential path to compromise (offering ‘chained CPI’ on Social Security, for example), then that could tick off Senate Democrats who could wonder why they had to take the vote they did. But if it simply reaffirms what Senate Democrats produced, then that would open up the White House to criticism that it’s not trying to find a way forward in resolving Washington’s budget impasse. We’ll find out what message the White House is trying to send on April 10.”

Wonk Wire: Nearly half of Americans surveyed have no idea their taxes went up this year.

Charlie Cook: “It has long been true in Washington
that it is harder to stop something than to do something. The late House
Speaker Sam Rayburn was fond of saying, ‘Any jackass can kick down a
barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.’ Today, even the best
carpenters in this process are rendered ineffective and are
outnumbered.”

President Obama “is set to sign a government funding measure that leaves in place the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration — a policy that undermines many of the goals he laid out during the 2012 campaign,” the Washington Post reports.

“Obama thinks the cuts are, in his words, ‘dumb,’ and he says they will slow the economy and harm priorities by cutting spending on education, research and development, and many other programs. Yet Obama now finds himself enacting a broad domestic policy that he doesn’t support and that he believes will harm the country.”

The Week: Why Obama’s legacy doesn’t need a grand bargain.

The Senate passed its first budget in four years by a vote of 50 to 49, The Hill reports.

“The close vote was a big victory for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA), who had to overcome large differences within their caucus to push the resolution through.”

Politico notes the final vote came after consideration of 101 amendments over 13 hours.

“Political warfare over the budget in Congress took a new twist Thursday as Senate Democrats openly schemed ahead of the blizzard of votes expected this week,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Democrats want to make sure that Senate Republicans are forced to put their support or opposition for Mr. Ryan’s budget on the record. Budget votes can carry political ramifications: Last week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign said it would target 14 House Republicans who might run for Senate seats in 2014 by trying to tie the lawmakers directly to Mr. Ryan’s budget proposal.”

Roll Call: 10 Senate amendments to watch for.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) “placed the odds for a bipartisan debt-reduction deal at better than 50-50, and outlined plans to roll out fresh ideas in the coming weeks on where to find the revenue to finance it,” Bloomberg reports.

Ron Fournier: “House Speaker John Boehner has stubbornly insisted he will not bargain with Obama one-on-one. He also says the House, after increasing taxes by $600 billion last year, will not raise new revenue.”

“Don’t believe him. Don’t mistake a negotiating position for reality. House Republicans tell me they are open to exchanging entitlement reform for new taxes — $250 billion to $300 billion, or approximately the amount that Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania proposed raising over 10 years under the guise of ‘tax reform.'”

Meanwhile, Roll Call breaks down the 10 Republicans who voted against the Ryan budget plan.

Michael Grunwald argues that President Obama should cave to Republicans and agree not to seek additional tax revenue — “not to appease the chattering classes, unify Washington or show the country he’s open to compromise. He should cave to ease pain, advance his agenda and improve the country in tangible ways.”

“Forget the dopey spats over White House tours and Easter-egg rolls. The sequester will cause real harm, so the President ought to at least try to replace it. And the pursuit of new revenue, while a reasonable goal, is not as important as his other goals–like avoiding short-term austerity that could derail the recovery, promoting long-term prosperity through targeted investments and tax reform, moving the budget in a fairer direction and preventing the GOP from taking more hostages in the future. He can’t possibly get a deal with everything he wants. But Republicans are so eager to avoid new taxes–and to make Obama look weak–that he might get a lot of what he wants if he gives them their top priority.”

Greg Sargent: “Which is worse, indefinite sequestration or a grand bargain that includes serious entitlement cuts?”

The New York Times reports the Senate “by a vote of 73-26 passed a spending measure that caps spending for programs within Congress’s annual discretion at $984 billion. The House is expected to pass the measure as soon as Thursday, eliminating any current threat of a government shutdown. The final Senate bill did ease the hit of the automatic cuts known as sequestration somewhat, especially those that could hurt vulnerable Democrats.”

Roll Call: “The first vote-a-rama on a Senate budget resolution in four years offers each party a chance to force the other to cast politically treacherous votes, and both sides are lining up for the opportunity, which could begin as early as Friday.”

Wonk Wire: Federal spending as a percentage of GDP has actually been falling since President Obama took office.

USA Today:
“Congress is on track to approve competing party-line budget blueprints
as well as legislation to fund the government and prevent a shutdown
March 27, but new found fiscal momentum on Capitol Hill is a temporary
reprieve from the budget battles that will renew this year. The
Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate will
approve respective ten-year budget plans with vastly different views on
spending, taxes and entitlement programs before adjourning for a
two-week spring recess.”