President Obama commanded House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday to work out a budget deal or else return to the White House every day until they do. 
 
 
 
 In a surprise appearance in front of reporters in the briefing room, Obama said he and his team are “prepared to meet for as long as possible to get this result.” 
 
 
 
 Obama announced that Boehner and Reid would meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday to talk about the budget. And he played hardball: "The speaker apparently didn't want our team involved in that discussion. That's fine. If they can sort it out, then we've got more than enough to do. If they can't sort it out then, I want them back here tomorrow. But it would be inexcusable for us to not be able to take care of last year's business." 
 
 
 
 He told lawmakers to “act like grownups.” 
 
 
 
 UPDATE: Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Boehner, denied that Boehner told Obama he didn't want the White House team at the meeting. He said in a statement: "The Speaker never said he didn’t want the White House there, just that he wanted to meet with Senator Reid. Speaker Boehner and Senator Reid have been having regular discussions on this topic for weeks. This is just one of those occasions." 
 
 
 
 UPDATE 2: Michael Steel, another Boehner spokesman, later said in a statement: "The Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader sat down privately and had a productive discussion. They agreed to continue working on a budget solution." ||||| A visibly frustrated President Barack Obama emerged from a failed meeting on a budget deal Tuesday and said he would demand daily sessions with House Speaker John Boehner until an agreement was hammered out to prevent a U.S. government shutdown at week's end. 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks past media after a closed conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner Ohio smiles from the back of an elevator after attending a closed conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio follows a staff member as he walks past media after a closed conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) 
 
 Obama spoke not long after Boehner's office issued a statement that insisted the two sides remained far apart and that Republicans had never, as the White House contends, agreed on $33 billion in cuts to the federal spending allotment for the remaining six months of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. 
 
 Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Boehner and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid met in the White House Tuesday as the clock ticked toward a midnight Friday expiration of the government's spending authority. 
 
 "We are closer than we have ever been to an agreement. There is no reason why we should not get an agreement," Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House reporters briefing room. 
 
 The president said Boehner and Reid were meeting later Tuesday, but if that session produced no agreement he would summon both men back to the White House Wednesday and daily thereafter, if necessary. 
 
 "Myself, Joe Biden, my team we are prepared to meet for as long as possible to get this resolved," Obama said. 
 
 Obama had barely finished speaking when Boehner strode before microphones to insist that the White House and Senate Democrats bow to demands for deeper cuts. Boehner is under extreme pressure from newly elected House members, many with allegiance to the ultraconservative tea party, to slash spending, the size of government and lower taxes. 
 
 Short of a long-term deal, Boehner has proposed an agreement that would keep the government running for one more week and cut another $12 billion in spending. Boehner has already orchestrated action by Congress to pass a pair of stopgap bills, so far cutting $10 billion from an estimated $1.2 trillion budget to fund the day-to-day operations of government through the fiscal accounting period. 
 
 Obama said he would only accept another short-term funding extension, of two or three days, to get a longer-term deal through Congress. But he ruled out a longer extension to allow negotiations to continue. 
 
 "That is not a way to run a government. I cannot have our agencies making plans based on two week budgets," Obama said. "What we are not going to do is once again put off something that should have been done months ago." 
 
 Boehner said Republicans "will not be put in a box" of accepting options they refuse to endorse. 
 
 Democrats accuse Republicans of pushing for harmful spending cuts and attaching a social policy agenda to the must-pass spending bill. Boehner counters that the White House is pressing gimmicky budget cuts. 
 
 As a government shutdown appeared increasingly inevitable, the White House has begun advising government agencies on the proper steps in preparation for a shutdown of the government. Republicans on Monday disclosed plans to instruct lawmakers "on how the House would operate in the event Senate Democrats shut down the government." 
 
 And in a memo to agency officials, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeffrey Zients, urged agency heads to refine and update contingency plans in the event negotiators don't strike a deal by Friday's deadline. 
 
 Boehner's one-week plan could reassure tea party-backed lawmakers who are among the most vocal in seeking to reduce the size and scope of the government. It could also put pressure on Democrats and the White House to offer greater spending cuts. 
 
 But there's no visible movement on an impasse over Republican policy riders attacking Obama's health care and financial reform laws, cutting taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood and reversing a host of Obama's environmental policies. 
 
 On a separate long-term track, Republicans controlling the House have fashioned plans to slash the budget deficit by more than $5 trillion over the upcoming decade, combining unprecedented spending cuts with a fundamental restructuring of taxpayer-financed health care for the elderly and the poor. 
 
 House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the Republican budget blueprint Tuesday morning just as Boehner headed to the White House. 
 
 Ryan's program includes a controversial proposal to convert the traditional Medicare health care program for the aged into a system by which private insurers would operate plans approved by the federal government. 
 
 Current Medicare beneficiaries or workers age 55 and older would stay in the existing system. 
 
 At the same time, Republicans propose to sharply cut projected spending on the Medicaid state-federal health program for the poor and disabled and transform it into a block grant program that gives governors far less money than under current estimates, but considerably more flexibility.
– President Obama sounded like an impatient parent today as the threat of a government shutdown grew larger. Admonishing lawmakers to "act like grownups," the president said John Boehner and Harry Reid would meet again later this afternoon, reports Politico. If nothing comes of it, Obama said he'll order them back at it again tomorrow. "We are closer than we have ever been to an agreement," said Obama. "There is no reason why we should not get an agreement." Boehner spoke immediately afterward, notes AP, and said Republicans would continue to "fight for the largest cuts possible." It's possible another stopgap spending measure can keep government open if no deal is in place by Friday, but the president said he will accept one only if it's good for just two or three days.