CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – BUDGET
March 8, 2012 – 5:18 p.m.
Agreement on Spending Limit Eludes House GOP Budget Writers
By Paul M. Krawzak and Kerry Young, CQ Staff
Republican members of the House Budget Committee have yet to agree on a framework for their fiscal 2013 budget resolution.
The panel’s GOP majority met for more than an hour Thursday with House Majority Leader
The committee is expected to recommend a spending cap for next year that falls below the level set in last August’s debt limit agreement (PL 112-25), but the figure remains under negotiation.
Republicans also are debating how to roll back the $109 billion spending “sequester” imposed by the debt limit law and scheduled to take effect in January. One big issue is whether alternative spending cuts should fall on discretionary spending alone, or on some entitlement programs.
Some Republicans prefer a more robust top line for fiscal 2013 spending, which would allow work to proceed more smoothly on spending bills. Republican leaders are trying to find a number that woos enough members among the conservative and more moderate wings of the party.
As he left Thursday’s meeting, Cantor said he is “looking forward to seeing the [budget resolution] markup occur on schedule and the budget on the floor by the end of this month.”
“We’re on track with where we wanted to be and we’re on schedule,” added Budget Chairman
“It’s not falling apart,” said
Budget Committee members are expected to confer by telephone during next week’s House recess, in preparation for a markup the following week. Aides are set to write the budget resolution next week after receiving updated projections of revenues, spending, deficits and debt from the Congressional Budget Office.
Ryan and GOP leaders are trying to craft a budget with widespread support in the Republican Conference that remains divided on spending issues. Many House Republicans, particularly appropriators, remain committed to the $1.047 trillion discretionary spending cap set in the debt limit law. But others, including many freshmen, want to aim for a lower number.
There is some support for a cap of $1.028 trillion, the fiscal 2013 discretionary spending level the House endorsed in the budget resolution it adopted a year ago.
Some Republicans want an even lower discretionary number that reflects the automatic budget cuts that are looming next January.
The debt limit law’s spending reduction mechanism is presenting another obstacle to reaching agreement on a budget resolution. The conservative Republican Study Committee is arguing that the Pentagon and related security programs should be spared from the scheduled across-the-board cuts. Instead, they want all of the cuts, amounting to about $97 billion, taken from other federal discretionary programs.
Agreement on Spending Limit Eludes House GOP Budget Writers
“That’s what we’re pushing for,” said
Appropriators and some others argue that changing the law to dictate such an outcome would devastate many federal programs. Rather than make such drastic reductions in basic federal services, they argue, some of the money needed to offset the cost of scuttling the sequester should come from mandatory programs, which include Medicare and Social Security. But Jordan argues that the idea of cutting mandatory programs is unrealistic, since there is little chance the Senate would go along.
Frances Symes contributed to this story.