"The Republicans' proposed budget cuts for the fiscal years 2011 and 2012 are the most radical I've ever seen," said Jerrold Nadler, who was joined by Anthony Weiner, Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney and Eliot engel. "That extremist Republican agenda is precisely what brought us to the brink, to the edge, of a government shutdown."

Obama and congressional leaders agreed to the stopgap budget deal late Friday, dodging a government shutdown by agreeing to $38 billion in cuts from a variety of federal programs. Liberal Democrats have argued that the bill is socially irresponsible and that it would kill jobs.

The deal was preceded by a long-term deficit-reduction proposal from Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, which would make deep cuts to entitlement spending.

"My Republican colleagues would like to repeal the twentieth century," said Engel. "They want to repeal Medicare and Medicaid, they want to repeal Social Security. And they are using the budget crisis as a ruse."

Democratic lawmakers have also criticized Obama, saying that he is caving to conservatives who are aiming to use the budget to push a social agenda. Nadler has said that Democrats have been blackmailed into the deal, accusing Obama of "whistling past the graveyard" in proclaiming a budget victory. Weiner expressed a similar sentiment via his Twitter. The representatives exempted Obama from criticism today, however, instead calling on congressional Democrats to fight the proposed measures.

"I recognize that the president has a $14 trillion deficit," said Rangel, who also said that Obama is dealing with with a Republican party that refuses to compromise. "The president has three undeclared wars. The president has an income tax system where the richest of the rich pay absolutely nothing."

"I think he was a fine leader--he brought parties together to negotiate, that's what government's about," said Maloney. "Not everyone got what they wanted but we did avert a government shutdown."

This may have been slightly premature, as much of the deal remains undefined. Maryland congressman Chris Van Hollen said yesterday on ABC News' This Week that lawmakers were still negotiating the fine details of the cut, and Senator Charles Schumer was unwilling to identify the specific cuts when pressed. All of which has left some Democrats--including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand--wittholding judgment on the deal.

Rangel suggested the budget fight could be a defining moment for Democrats.

"This is an opportunity for America really to prove who we are, and what we represent," said Rangel, who helpfully suggested that lawmakers turn to spiritual leaders for guidance. "The $38 billion is nothing compared to the nightmare that the Republicans are preparing in the House of Representatives."

Lawmakers will vote on the measure this Thursday. If they do not reach an agreement, the government faces another potential shutdown.

"We still have a budget decision to be made," she said this morning, when asked about the impending battle over the debt ceiling, which looks to be the next front of fiscal warfare.

Gillibrand was referring to the stopgap bill that pushed back a final vote on the fiscal year 2011 budget until this week. "Those negotiations are ongoing and as soon as we have a package, I'll have a view on that package," she said.

While congressional leaders figure out the details, other local representatives have already made their views known. Every city Democrat voted against the stopgap bill, and this afternoon, five of them planned a rally against the $38 billion in cuts.

Asked if she agreed with Congressman Jerrold Nadler's assessment that Democrats had been "blackmailed," Gillibrand focused on what they appear to have won.

"Obviously the Senate fought very hard not to unwind Title X funding. I thought it was outrageous that the Republicans were trying to balance the budget on the back of women," she said. "Absolutely unacceptable. And a line has been drawn in the sand in the Senate that we will not pass a budget under those views. So we'll see what the next proposal is that comes out of the White House and Boehner's office and Harry Reid, and we will look at it and assess it based on the merits."

But there's a general sense that Democrats are mostly playing defense at this point, and Gillibrand was quick to talk about the need for spending cuts--echoing House Republicans more than the White House, which had initially proposed a budget with minor spending increases.

"We have to cut spending and we will cut spending," Gillibrand said. "In order to be able to move forward with a budget next year, we have to reduce spending and we have to make sure we do it in the right away, in a way that does not undermine basic safety nets for those most at risk."

Gillibrand was speaking after a press conference with Police Commission Ray Kelly, in which they proposed a new appropriation, one that would take a slice of the country's broadband spectrum and develop a nationwide wireless system for first responders.

"This is the kind of bill that actually pays for itself, because it gets paid for by auctioning off some spectrum that's going to generate $27 billion in revenue to the federal government," she said.

Gillibrand said the bill has the support of Long Island Republican Peter King and the rest of the New York delegation, and that she's working to get co-sponsors in the Senate.

The stopgap bill is what technically prevented a government shutdown and was necessary to give congressional dealmakers the weekend to hash out where exactly the federal government will exact $38 billion in budget cuts. But, as you can see from this full accounting, it was also something of a litmus test for how lawmakers feel about the tentative deal.

The furthest factions of both parties seem to have disagreed with it, which is why you see Tea Party Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann voting alongside liberal Congressman Anthony Weiner. But you can see it in the New York delegation too, with city Democrats opposing the deal--a few of them are holding a noon press conference to denounce the cuts--while some of their party colleagues approved it. (And two didn't vote.)

YEAS

Bishop - D
Buerkle - R
Gibson - R
Grimm - R
Hanna - R
Hayworth - R
Higgins - D
Israel - D
King - R
Lowey - D
McCarthy - D
Owens - D
Reed - R
Slaughter - D
Tonko - D

NAYS

Clarke - D
Crowley - D
Engel - D
Maloney - D
Meeks - D
Nadler - D
Rangel - D
Serrano - D
Towns - D
Velazquez - D
Weiner - D

NOT VOTING

Ackerman - D
Hinchey - D