"I think we've pushed this to the limit," Assistant Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin said on "Fox News Sunday." "To go any further is to push more kids out of school. It stops the investment of infrastructure, which kills good-paying jobs right here in the United States."

"I'm willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic discretionary spending," Durbin said.

When asked if he thought the Obama administration was serious about the budget on "Face The Nation," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said, "No, I don't. I have now had a number of private conversations with the president and the vice president. I was hopeful that we would step up to the plate here, if you will, and use this divided government opportunity to do something big about our long- term problem."

"I don't have any more complaints about the conversations with them; I've had plenty of conversations with them. What I don't see now is any willingness to do anything that's difficult," he said.

Last week, both houses of Congress passed a stop-gap measure to fund the government until March 18, avoiding a government shutdown and giving lawmakers more time to reach an agreement.

Lawmakers have been sparring for weeks over the issue of federal funding. Republicans want $62 billion in spending cuts from the current discretionary spending levels, while Democrats say that's overkill and have proposed $50 billion in cuts.

But, the Wall Street Journal notes:

"The majority of the cuts from Democrats, and the White House, are compared to Mr. Obama's fiscal 2011 budget request. Congress never passed that request.

When it comes to current spending levels, the two sides are still far apart, as both sides are staunchly opposed to each other's spending plans. Mr. Obama reiterated that while he is willing to make cuts, areas such as education, innovation, and infrastructure are off limits.

Rep. Diane Black, a Republican from Tennessee, said in the Republican radio address that Mr. Obama's budget proposals continue "out-of-control spending."

"The policies of the past haven't worked, and despite some signs of life in our economy, the unemployment rate is still far above the levels that the president's advisers promised when the 'stimulus' spending bill was signed into law," she said."

On ABC's "This Week," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said spending cuts will have to come from programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

"Anybody who thinks we can do that with 12% to 15% of the budget or make those kinds of changes on that small a percentage of the budget is just wrong," he said.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts called the House spending plan "dangerous" and an "ideological, extremist, reckless" gesture.

"If that were to be in fact put in place, it would contribute to the reversal of our recovery," Kerry said. "It's not a real discussion of America's needs. We need to be doing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. We need to have defense spending on the table. We need a comprehensive approach."

Responding to Kerry, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "What planet is he living on?"

"Where's the president? Where's the leadership?" McConnell said. "Our national debt is now the size of our economy. We're beginning to look a lot like Greece ... this is the time to get serious."

In his weekly radio address to the nation on Saturday, President Obama said he'd be willing to make deeper spending cuts than he originally told Republicans.

Referring to the recent two week extension, Obama said, the U.S. can't "do business two weeks at a time. It's not responsible, and it threatens the progress our economy has been making."

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives approved the desired $61 billion cuts on Feb. 19 by a vote of 235-189.

The vote was called "an early political victory" for Speaker John Boehner "as his newly empowered GOP troops lived up to a 2010 campaign pledge to trim spending levels to those before the 2008 financial crisis caused an unprecedented level of government spending and intervention into the private economy."

Boehner referred to it as "democracy in action."

The Senate is expected to vote on the House-passed bill this week in addition to a Democratic alternative--both of which will not garner the 60 votes necessary.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," White House Chief of Staff William Daley seemed confident the government would reach a bipartisan agreement.

"I'm very optimistic that there won't be a shutdown," he said.