House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday that no final spending deal has been struck, CQ Today reported. The speaker's comments came less than 24 hours after Vice President Joe Biden said congressional leaders had settled on a tentative $33 billion figure for spending cuts in FY 2011, which runs through Sept. 30.

Biden told reporters Wednesday night that Boehner had agreed to a tentative deal that would trim $73 billion off President Barack Obama's FY 2011 budget request. That top-line figure translates to a discretionary spending cap of $1.055 trillion, or a cut of $33 billion below spending levels from early this year.

"We're all working off the same number now," Biden said after leaving a meeting with top Senate Democrats. "There's no reason why, with all that's going on in the world and with the state of the economy, we can't reach an agreement and avoid a government shutdown."

But Boehner said Thursday there has not been a final compromise.

"There is no agreement on numbers, and nothing will be agreed to until everything has been agreed to," Boehner said, adding that negotiations are continuing.

Boehner acknowledged that Republicans control only half of Congress.

"We can't impose our will on another body. We can't impose our will on the Senate," Boehner said. "All we can do is to fight for all of the spending cuts that we can get an agreement to, and all of the spending limitations as well."

House Republicans have demanded $100 billion in spending cuts this fiscal year compared to Obama's FY 2011 budget, far above the level Senate Democrats and the White House are willing to accept. The House passed an appropriations bill (HR 1) covering the rest of FY 2011 in mid-February (see Feb. 25 AASHTO Journal story), but Senate efforts to approve a spending bill failed earlier this month. (see March 11 AASHTO Journal story)