Posted on 03/13/2011 7:36:53 PM PDT by Qbert
Freshmen Republicans in the House are increasingly worried that party leaders will back down on spending cuts and might oppose the latest bill to avoid a government shutdown, one lawmaker says.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) said Saturday he will oppose a three-week continuing resolution from House Republicans to fund the government and signaled other freshmen may follow suit.
The three-week spending bill "could be much harder to pass than the last one" because it fails to make the cuts needed to slash the deficit, Huelskamp told The Hill.
The House is set to vote on the three-week bill Tuesday. It would cut $6 billion in federal spending.
If another spending bill is not passed by March 18, the government will shut down.
Although Huelskamp said he "appreciates the strategy of cutting a few billion [from spending] every few weeks," he said there's growing concern, especially among freshmen and members of the Republican Study Group, that lawmakers will fail to cut anywhere near the $61 billion approved by the House last month.
Huelskamp noted that the three-week continuing resolution (CR) contains funding for the healthcare law and Planned Parenthood, budget lines that many conservatives strongly oppose.
The most recent stopgap proposal omits many of the priorities the American people demanded we pass, including the elimination of some EPA regulations, repealing healthcare and defunding Planned Parenthood, he said.
The House-approved CR cutting $61 billion was rejected by the Senate this week. Talks are ongoing between the White House, Democrats and Republicans to strike a deal on a spending bill funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year.
Democrats and Republicans remain about $50 billion apart on how much spending should be cut this year, and each side is pushing the other to take the next step.
Huelskamp, a member of the House Budget Committee, said the short-term spending bills are distracting lawmakers from the nation's pressing fiscal issues.
"We were elected to make bold changes to federal spending and to reverse our unsustainable deficits," Huelskamp said. "By allowing President Obama and Senator Reid to stall a budget they should have completed six months ago, we are being distracted from even bigger tasks.
He warned that a drawn-out budget process could hurt Republicans who vowed during their fall campaigns to make sweeping cuts to federal spending. He said the temporary measures do not send the message that Washington is tackling spending and the deficit with a sense of urgency.
"We're losing ground every week," he said.
House Republican leaders on Friday unveiled the three-week CR in hopes of providing more time for negotiations on funding the government through the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) had said he didn't want the bill to contain language defunding public broadcasting or Planned Parenthood, which were included in the long-term CR passed by the House, because it would run into trouble in the Senate.
This is simply an extension to give negotiators more time, Rogers said.
The measure includes funding rescissions, reductions and program terminations totaling $3.5 billion, according to the House Appropriations Committee. The bill also eliminates $2.6 billion in earmarked spending from a range of agencies, according to the panel.
Senate Democrats have signaled that they could accept the measure, which includes proposed spending cuts backed by the White House.
I am glad that we were able to come to an agreement with Republicans on a three-week continuing resolution made up of cuts already proposed by Democrats that will also be free of any ideological, special-interest legislation," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. "However, we cant continue to run our government two or three weeks at a time."
Several conservative groups expressed opposition to the short-term spending measure and warned lawmakers they would pay a price for supporting it.
"In 2008, Planned Parenthood vowed to spend $10 million to elect pro-abortion Democrats, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said. In return, Planned Parenthood was handed a healthcare bill that includes abortion funding as well as access to a slush fund containing billions of tax dollars.
Heritage Action and the Club for Growth joined the Family Research Council in condemning the measure. Club for Growth President Chris Chocola warned fiscal conservatives they are walking into a trap.
When the debt ceiling debate happens in a few weeks, the big spenders will offer a so-called 'compromise' in exchange for raising the debt ceiling and giving them a series of new credit cards," he said in a statement. "Such a 'deal' would be a complete sellout of Americas taxpayers, who deserve major spending reductions and structural reforms that will solve our debt crisis. Rather than going down that road to disaster, fiscally conservative House members should insist on more than a short-term CR now.
The funding of this year's budget is the first of several major budget battles expected this year, with an increase of the debt ceiling also on the agenda.
Huelskamp said he doesn't expect the House will vote to raise the debt ceiling and said Republicans will need more than just assurances before agreeing to pass it, such as a vote on a balanced budget amendment.
- Erik Wasson and Molly Hooper contributed to this story.
- Exactly.
JUST SAY “NO DEAL” - SHUT THEM DOWN !!!!!!
Boy am I stupid, I did not know that Planned Parenthood was an essential government service.
I am really not liking the GOP sometimes
Sounds like HA Committee Chair Mr. Rogers (Rino-Kentucky) didn't get last November's message.
Mr. Rogers...SHUT IT DOWN!! DON'T FUND NPR AND PP WITH MY TAX $$!!
Rogers is turning into a real problem.
. Meanwhile, thousands of Libyan civilians are dying every day because this stiff won't announce a no-fly zone in Libya. Their blood is all over this icy man's hands, (not that it bothers him). Reagan, or even Bush, would have annouced that no-fly zone and within a few days Ghadaffi would have been crushed. If his air power took to flight they would fall to the ground and explode faster that you can say "I got him in my crosshairs Captain". No help for the Egyptians, no help for the Libyans, both countries being well worth making friends with. But get used to it, when it's Israel's time to need help, the half white, half black, half of a man in the Oval Office will be reading Mien Kampf.
Problem is it is all a damn lie that have not cut one dime of actual spending, they are cutting stuff out of a damn budget that was never passed, therefore it could not be actual spending. Cantor and Ryan are blowing smoke up the ass of the voters. The whole leadership of the current republican house needs to be fired.
Problem is it is all a damn lie that have not cut one dime of actual spending, they are cutting stuff out of a damn budget that was never passed, therefore it could not be actual spending. Cantor and Ryan are blowing smoke up the ass of the voters. The whole leadership of the current republican house needs to be fired.
“Rogers is turning into a real problem.”
Yep.
But it’s going to be a different ballgame for these folks. They’ll meet our demands... or they’ll be booted to the curb and replaced with real Conservatives two years from now.
A Kentucky Ping.
...for those interested. :D
*gagging*.....so much for cutting the deficit.
Hal "another billion here / another billion there...no problem" Rogers
A Kentucky Ping.
...for those interested. :D
*gagging*.....so much for cutting the deficit.
Hal "another billion here / another billion there...no problem" Rogers
The envelope was already sealed so I wrote in red sharpie across the back:
P.S. Defund PP now! No abortions with my money!
Exactly. I mean, they’ve got this Rogers guy saying that defunding PP (and PBS) is going to “run into trouble in the Senate”... and I’m thinking, says who? With so many Dems up for re-election, they can’t get any to vote on difficult items?? Isn’t that partly the point of this?!
Their $61B in cuts that didn’t get through the Senate was just chump change compared to the size of the problem anyway. It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t already $14T in the hole with approximately tripple that in unfunded liabilities through 2020, but we are. They needed to at least multiply that by 10 to be taken as serious about dealing with the budget problem. So they failed with the $61B, and they fail even harder with these short-term CRs.
We need some Republicans in there with pairs of brass ones who will really get serious about the spending or the last recession will look like some of our better days in the not so distant future.
playin patt-a-cake over $6B when we currently have a continuous deficit of >$1.6T isnt even an attempt to fool WE the People...
I know, just 2 more yrs, or two more election cycles and we'll get a majority thatll do the heavy lifting...yeah right...
Well, one would think so, but thinking requires more than one functioning brain cell, which YOU clearly have. Not so sure about the idiots in CONgre$$.
With so many Dems up for re-election, they cant get any to vote on difficult items??
Exactly! Get them on record for all their constituents to see. Idiots all.
Yep. But I’ve heard it’s much worse- close to 100 Trillion in unfunded liabilities.
I thought they were going to “triangulate” Obama with these CRs... I don’t see any triangulation going on. All I see is the GOP running little 1-yard handoffs, when the crowd is demanding that the QB go long. And then they’re quickly back playing defense again.
Pathetic.
Politician including republicans are too in love with goverment which is by extension their own magnificent “gift” to the American people. To want to let it shut down.
At this way particularly the way Bachmann describes it, a shut down sounds like it should be a permanent thing. Government should not have “non-essential” services.
Great analogy.
Well we Knew This was Going to Happen When Boner Appointed this Rino Hal Rogers, Oh They told Us He has Seen the Light He Got the Message In November... Sure He did ,Why are we Surprised that The Republicans are sellouts once again,BONER AND CANTOR ARE FRAUDS
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