GOP states that Obama needs to step up to the plate and make the necessary budget cuts in order to keep Washington running.

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WASHINGTON -- President Obama isn't serious about dealing with government spending and the deficit, the Senate's top Republican argued Sunday as lawmakers took to the airwaves to shout past each other about where and how much spending to cut in the government's wildly bloated budget.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that after a number of conversations with Obama and Vice President Biden, he is not optimistic the president will take the opportunity provided by a Republican-led House to look for areas of compromise on spending cuts.

"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 problems. I don't have any more complaints about no 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," McConnell said on NBC's "Face the Nation."

With two votes in the Senate expected to fail this week, the clock is ticking to get a budget in place before the March 18 deadline for a government shutdown. The previous March 4 deadline was extended for two weeks after House Republicans agreed to give the Senate more time to debate their proposal to chop $61 billion from "current" operating numbers. Those current numbers are left over from 2010, since the Democratic-led Congress did not pass a budget for 2011 even though the budget year began last Oct. 1.

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