In The News

The time frame: five days. The dollar figure: $33 billion. The stakes: The size, scope and ongoing operation of the federal government. A deal: Priceless.

An epic spending skirmish reaches its climax this week as tea party-fortified conservatives and Democratic leaders clash over how much, or how little, to slash from this year’s budget — and whether to include conservative policy riders that limit the government’s ability to spend money on Planned Parenthood, environmental regulations and other liberal priorities.

It’s not the last budget battle Democrats and Republicans will wage this year — the fiscal 2012 budget fight will start Tuesday when House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) rolls out a proposal that promises to cut more than $4 trillion over the next decade.

But everyone agrees that the outcome of the fiscal 2011 battle that comes to a head this week will affect the budget battles ahead, so both sides are strategizing what to fight for in the current budget and how much to hold off the bigger battles for the 2012 budget debate.

“What we can’t lose sight of is where this fits in the big picture,” said freshman Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). “Not every skirmish is the war. You have to figure out how do you go win the war.”