The prospect of a government shutdown loomed larger on Capitol Hill on Thursday when Republican leaders ruled out the easiest path around a budget impasse and Democrats accused them of playing a dangerous game of chicken.Tensions over funding the government for the rest of this year escalated as House Republicans crept closer to approval of massive spending cuts to social services, environmental programs, foreign aid and research.The package, amounting to more than $61 billion, is five times larger than any previous discretionary budget reduction proposed in the House, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said, and makes good on a Republican campaign promise to make swift and substantial spending cuts.But the plan is unlikely to get far when it moves to the Democratic-led Senate. It also has been rejected by the Obama administration as potentially harmful to the frail economic recovery.The resulting stalemate comes with a firm deadline: Current funding for the government expires March 4.With the House still debating the GOP package, Democrats had widely expected Republican leaders to agree to temporarily extend current spending levels, giving both sides more time to negotiate. But Boehner rejected that approach Thursday."When we say we're going to cut spending, read my lips: We're going to cut spending," he told reporters.Boehner's blunt declaration immediately turned up the heat on the spending talks.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggested it was evidence that Boehner "can't control the votes in his caucus" and had resorted to threats of a shutdown."It's not permissible. We will not stand for that," Reid said.Democrats argued that a resolution extending the budget at current levels would already include spending reductions. About $41 billion in cuts was included when the current spending plan was put in place by the last Congress.That argument is unlikely to placate the most ardent budget hawks in the Republican House. These lawmakers, many of them freshmen, have shown a near-singular focus on shrinking the size of the government.Many took the $61 billion offered in the GOP bill as a mere starting point and have proposed hundreds of amendments to further reduce spending. Debate was expected to extend late into Thursday night.In early votes, the House voted to take $20 million out of the National Endowment for the Arts and to cut the remaining $15 million out of a trust fund for the Presidio historic site in San Francisco.The House also approved an amendment aimed at blocking so-called net neutrality rules. The amendment, proposed by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), bars the use of funds to enforce Federal Communications Commission rules pertaining to Internet regulation.Other measures were rejected, however, including a proposal to cut $233 million from the National Labor Relations Board and another to cut Amtrak by $447 million.Still, House Republicans said they felt the momentum was with the budget cutters and that a Senate proposal would have to include substantial reductions to win a majority in the House."I don't see the stomach here to cave in," said seven-term Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.).Mindful of the political blowback from a 1995 government shutdown, Democrats have tried to blame the GOP-led House for the escalating tensions, saying they have recklessly pursued cuts at the urging of members aligned with the " tea party ."Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called on Republicans to "take the government shutdown option off the table," and introduced legislation to cut off lawmakers' paychecks if a shutdown occurs.Republicans accused Democrats of "rooting for a shutdown" instead of working toward solving the deficit. ||||| Speaker John Boehner is warning his Republican colleagues that Democrats would “win” a government shutdown and the GOP would suffer a political catastrophe if the federal government runs out of money at the end of this week. 
 
 “The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown. I agree,” Boehner said during a closed-door, 90-minute meeting on House Republicans on Monday night, according to several lawmakers who attended the session. 
 
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 reset AUDIO: Catanese on shutdown VIDEO: Obama on shutdown POLITICO 44 
 
 Boehner’s opinion was quickly backed up GOP lawmakers who were serving in Congress during 1995, when former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) squared off with then-President Bill Clinton by shutting down the government twice. Reps. Don Young (Alaska), Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) and Buck McKeon (Calif.) — a close ally — supported Boehner’s position. Dozens of other Republicans rallied to support Boehner as well, in a moment that one GOP insider called a “turning point” for House Republicans. 
 
 “My view is that a government shutdown doesn’t benefit anyone necessarily, but if one party or the other is going to get an edge, it’s probably the Democrats. I agree with the speaker there,” Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) told POLITICO. “If you look at the government shutdown of 1995, it guaranteed President Clinton’s reelection. And that’s what this would do. If you want to cede the presidential race in 2012, you shut down the government.” 
 
 But while Boehner may have backing from the old veterans in his camp, he’s run headlong into the tea-party group of House Republicans who believe that Obama and Senate Democrats would come off the worse if a shutdown actually takes place. 
 
 These hard-line Republicans, not all of whom are freshmen, have forced Boehner to play hardball with the Democrats or face a potential threat to his own survival as speaker. This hard-core faction is insisting on no less than the $61 billion spending cut package passed by the House in February, and they’ve refused to back to any proposal that includes smaller reductions. Reid and Senate Democrats have pushed a much smaller reduction of $33 billion. As of Tuesday afternoon, the potential of a shutdown was growing, but could be headed off by a Boehner offer of $40 billion in cuts plus certain policy riders favored by GOP lawmakers. 
 
 The split among Republicans breaks somewhat along generational lines, but even more clearly between those who have served in government — either in the state, local or federal level — and those who have never done so. 
 
 The Republicans favoring a shutdown are convinced the political landscape is radically different this time around. They believe the power of the president’s “bully pulpit” isn’t as overwhelming as it was in Clinton’s time, and more voters will sympathize with the GOP’s efforts to shut down the government.
– The possibility of a government shutdown looms larger today after yesterday's back-to-back meetings in Washington failed to bring a compromise. For the past week, House Republican leaders and Senate Democrat leaders have been discussing $33 billion in cuts, but John Boehner yesterday said he may seek up to $40 billion. Though his aides deflected those reports, Boehner also rejected the $33 billion figure, the Washington Post reports. The two sides must also come to an agreement on the $10 billion in one-time cuts Democrats want to make; another stumbling block is the policy riders Boehner wants to attach to the legislation. Meanwhile, Boehner is warning his fellow Republicans that if the government shuts down, the Democrats "win." At a meeting of House Republicans last night, Boehner and dozens of other GOP lawmakers, some of whom served in Congress during the 1995 shutdowns, argued that those shutdowns "guaranteed President Clinton's reelection," as one rep tells Politico. "And that’s what this would do. If you want to cede the presidential race in 2012, you shut down the government." But Tea Party reps disagree, and want Boehner to insist on the full $61 billion spending cut package the House passed in February.