CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – BUDGET
July 19, 2011 – 11:26 p.m.
As House OKs ‘Cut, Cap and Balance,’ Stance of Right Augurs Tough Road to a Deal
By Richard E. Cohen, CQ Staff
Conservative Republicans have become increasingly rigid about what they like — and do not like — and that is posing problems for any compromise proposal to increase the debt ceiling.
The more House conservatives learn about a plan outlined by Senate Minority Leader
Still, that plan is clearly evolving, and parts of a proposal outlined Tuesday by the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Six” to curtail spending and shave the budget deficit by some $4 trillion over the next decade could be folded into a final version.
Conservatives are focusing most of their opposition to the McConnell-Reid plan on how it would implement a debt limit increase — essentially putting the decision in President Obama’s hands. The Gang of Six proposal would do nothing to alter Congress’ role in raising the debt limit, and its ambitious deficit reduction proposals could provide a broader bipartisan sheen for specific spending reductions likely to draw sharp opposition from members of both parties.
But more than 60 Republicans have signed freshman
“McConnell’s plan supersedes the rights of the American people. The only way for average American families to act on the debt ceiling is through their elected representatives in Congress,” wrote Walsh, R-Ill., who planned to deliver the letter to Boehner, R-Ohio, on Thursday.
Assertion of Congress’ “power of the purse” has been a prerogative for many of the Republican conference’s rebellious conservatives.
“I favor specificity,” said freshman
This helps explain why many tea party-backed Republicans enthusiastically support the GOP’s “cut, cap and balance” measure (
The House passed the bill 234-190 on Tuesday, but the measure has virtually no chance of winning Senate passage, and President Obama already has threatened a veto.
Tuesday’s vote highlights the dilemma for House Republican leaders: Are they willing — or able — to seek House approval of an alternative that could run counter to what many of the rank-and-file, plus Boehner, have demanded for months?
The proposal that Senate leaders have been preparing as a last-ditch, default-avoiding option is anything but specific.
“The McConnell proposal is more of a political than a policy proposal,” said Rep.
As House OKs ‘Cut, Cap and Balance,’ Stance of Right Augurs Tough Road to a Deal
The House vote left the debt ceiling endgame more elusive, with Treasury Secretary
Although conservatives’ big ambitions to reduce deficit spending could give encouragement to the Gang of Six outline, some Democrats said the House-passed proposal was a step in the wrong direction at a crucial point.
“I hope that this bill doesn’t delay our ability to come to an agreement,” said Rep.
“We are unified and positive about our proposal,” said House Republican Policy Committee Chairman
If nothing else, the House debate was a reminder that the Republican majority — especially its junior members — prefers to think big when it comes to tackling federal spending and the debt. Although the conservatives may lack the votes or the ability to achieve their goals, they also are resolute about what they do not want.
McConnell Plan May Show Way Forward
Rank-and-file hostility to the Senate plan — including the collaboration between McConnell, R-Ky., and Reid, D-Nev. — has placed Boehner in an awkward position, though it could strengthen his initial demands for a huge spending-cut package.
“Congress is about to go into punt formation” with the McConnell plan, said
Boehner has basked in his close working relationship with McConnell, a Senate counterpart in the Cincinnati-Louisville axis. On the other hand, the debt-ceiling debate has highlighted the vastly different political priorities of the two Republican leaders and their chambers.
As head of a rambunctious majority, and with an aggressive agenda of his own, Boehner hopes that the debt ceiling debate will demonstrate the GOP’s ability to address core issues and will enhance his own stature — though it could coincidentally do the same for Obama.
Ceding this week’s House debate to conservatives could play into the legislative endgame. In what has become the mostly dormant and politically split Senate, McConnell is intent on inflicting pain on Democrats with repetitive debt limit votes by senators facing re-election campaigns next year.
Boehner has carefully avoided a commitment about any hypothetical House action on McConnell’s proposal, which he has termed a “last-ditch” plan. And he has little choice but to accommodate GOP members, as the debt limit battle moves toward a climax.
But Boehner has been kept aware of McConnell’s maneuvering, even though he has not participated directly, according to a well-placed GOP aide.
As House OKs ‘Cut, Cap and Balance,’ Stance of Right Augurs Tough Road to a Deal
Despite sending some positive signals on the McConnell and Reid alternative, the White House continues to encourage Boehner to seize the moment and reach for a big deficit reduction deal — in general terms, if not the specifics.
A White House negotiating session is scheduled for Wednesday, Reid announced.
Tuesday’s vote, along with the Gang of Six proposal, may signal that something significant may soon unfold — or, perhaps nothing. “I am hopeful. But I am an eternal optimist,” Price said. “That is the only way to be in Washington.”