Negotiations between party leaders over how to keep the government running (and how to cut federal spending) are ongoing, but already the debate has shifted noticeably in the Republicans’ favor.

The House is expected to vote this afternoon on a short-term continuing resolution that would cut federal spending by $4 billion over a two-week period and give lawmakers time to negotiate a longer-term solution. This bill, once passed, will proceed to the Senate, where it could be taken up as early as tomorrow. The current continuing resolution expires on March 4. If no action is taken before then, the government will shut down.

Because the Republican’s short-term proposal includes cuts taken straight from President Obama’s budget, it has attracted support from Democrats in the Senate. A GOP Senate aide tells NRO there are “more than enough Democrats” willing pass the House proposal. There appears to be only some minor contention over the appropriate length of a short-term resolution. Some Senate Democrats, as well as the White House, have said they would prefer a 30-day measure. White House press secretary Jay Carney even indicated that President Obama would be willing to accept $8 billion in spending cuts over that period. Democrats have also stressed the need for a long-term solution that funds the government through the end of September.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said this morning that he too believed a resolution through Sept. 30 (the end of the fiscal year) “would be the right move,” noting that the House had already passed such a measure, which includes more than $60 billion in spending cuts. “Why isn’t the Senate working on it this week?” he asked.

The speaker also accused the president of being too slow to engage in the debate over the short-term CR. “If there had been a conversation ten days ago, or two days ago, we might have had something to talk about,” Boehner told reporters. “The fact is, we were forced to move on our own, and I think we’re taking the responsible path forward.”

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Carney would not say whether the president would be willing to support the two-week resolution pending in the House, but did provide several indications regarding what the White House could accept as part of a spending compromise.

As previously mentioned, Carney clearly stated that the administration would be amenable to what would essentially be a doubling of the House’s short-term plan, i.e., $8 billion in cuts over a four-week period. If true, that’s a clear indication of how Republicans have succeed in gaining the upper hand on spending.

“There’s no debate here about the need to cut spending,” Carney said — certainly a profound admission coming from this White House. Or perhaps not, given the administration’s proclivity for making statements and failing to back them up with real action. Either way, Carney diligently tacked on some telling caveats:

“The president is committed to making tough choices on spending,” he continued. “But he is equally committed to not going down a road that does harm to the economy [and] doesn’t address the kind of investments that we need to make so we can win the future in the 21st century.”

Could this signal an effort by President Obama to include some of the “investments” (i.e., massive spending increases) outlined in his 2012 budget as part of a bipartisan spending deal? And how much, if at all, will Republicans be willing to compromise? Stay tuned.