The Hill News

A federal budget compromise will be struck this week if House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) can “gain control” of Tea Party Republicans, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Monday.

"Nobody wants to see a government shutdown and this really highlights one issue: If we avoid a government shutdown on Saturday it will be because John Boehner, at last, has figured out a way to gain control of his caucus," Himes said in an interview with WNYC's Brian Lehrer. "He needs to figure out a working majority, which probably means cutting loose the radical members on [the conservative] wing â€" the quote-unquote Tea Partiers."

Himes said that he thinks Republicans and Democrats have realized that if they fail to reach compromise on a federal spending bill for the rest of the year all of Congress will get the blame â€" rather than just one party.

The Obama administration and House Republicans have until Friday to reach a deal on a federal spending bill befo! re the current continuing resolution expires. If they don’t, they risk a government shutdown.

Democrats have been saying the two sides are closing in on a deal, but Republicans have said there is no agreement yet on the level of cuts to the current year’s spending.

Boehner said last week a government shutdown would cost more money than it would save.

“If you shut the government down, it’ll end up costing more than you’ll save because you interrupt contracts â€" there are a lot of problems with the idea of shutting the government down â€" it is not the goal,” Boehner said Friday.