WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrats said they are working to craft an alternative to the $85 billion spending cut sequester scheduled for March 1.
"It's a work in progress," U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Hill.
However, Democratic senators said no agreement has been reached on the balance of tax hikes and spending cuts in a package, on the scope of the package or on how much of the sequester it would replace, The Hill reported Friday.
Key Democrats, after returning from a retreat in Annapolis, Md., where they discussed strategy with U.S. President Barack Obama, met Thursday in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office to look into options for preventing the sequester.
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Senate Democrats and House Republicans are determined to not be blamed if the sequester -- across-the-board cuts in federal spending -- is allowed to go into effect, The Hill said. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the sequester would cut economic growth 0.7 percent and the Bipartisan Policy Center said it would cost 1 million jobs.
Obama, warning the economy would be harmed by the sequester, this week called on Congress to prevent at least some cuts with a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes.
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Republicans insist the sequester shouldn't be delayed unless Democrats agree to a different set of spending cuts and want tax hikes excluded from any replacement package.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., aid the only certainty was that legislation would be presented before March 1.
"It has to be before the sequester takes effect," he said.
