Following a contentious vote Tuesday night, the House Appropriations Committee will move forward with a GOP proposal to cut tens of billions in federal non-security spending for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September). The move puts Republicans one step closer to bringing a continuing resolution to the floor that will replace the one that expires on March 4.
The 27–22 vote broke down by party, with two notable exceptions: GOP Reps. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) and Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) joined with Democrats and voted ‘no’ in protest over cuts they viewed as insufficient. Republicans very nearly lost a third member. Freshman Rep. Tom Graves (R., Ga.) had also threatened to oppose the measure, but was won over at the last minute.
The proposal will cut about $58 billion in non-defense spending compared to President Obama’s 2011 budget request. Conservatives like Flake have insisted that the number is too low and called for an additional $42 billion in cuts to fulfill a commitment outlined in the Republican “Pledge to America” to cut $100 billion. Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, has promised to introduce these extra cuts in an amendment to any continuing resolution brought to the floor.
Flake’s move was rather unprecedented in that he opted to file a dissenting view in the committee report, something that is almost never done by a member of the majority party. However, those familiar with Flake should not be surprised. He certainly didn’t sign up for the Appropriations Committee to make friends.
If Tuesday night’s vote is any indication of what’s to come when a continuing resolution ultimately comes to the House floor, GOP leadership will be in for a real test.
More here.
This is why I love Jeff Flake. The rest of Congress should follow his lead and be willing to make those tough decisions.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood for Flake. There is allot more work that needs to be done. Lugar and Hatch need to go.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThey still dont get it. The Republicans are a bunch of wooses. It is time for them to get on with the spending cuts, but they just mull around and kick the dirt. The November elections were a call to action for the Rebublicans, what the hell are they doing?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAlong with Jeff Flake, Jim Jordan is another rep with a backbone. We need more like them. They are actually trying to follow through with what we voted for.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThank god for Flake. This is why after a lifetime as a Republican I no longer consider myself a Republican. They just don't get it. $58 billion? They're an order of magnitude off and more. If they cut $580 billion this year and $1 trillion next year, I'd believe they are serious. But $58 billion - given the poor government accounting, this is within the error of margin for the budget. Idiots.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHere's the actual pledge from the pocket card on the GOP website:
"Cut government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout
levels saving at least $100 billion in the
first year alone."
In other words - we promise to cut spending to 2008 levels, and if we do that we will save $100 billion. Not we will cut $100 billion.
An example. My competitor has a contract to perform some work for a client. He indicates to the client in December 2010 that he's going to have to raise his price for the job from $250,000 in 2010 to $350,000 in 2011. I go in and tell the client that I can do the job at the 2010 price and that will save him $100,000. The client says he'll think about it. Then January rolls around and my competitor decides he only needs to raise the price to $300,000. I still say I can do it for $250,000. Would I be breaking a promise to the client because I'm not going to be saving him $100,000 - only $50,000 - even though my promise was to do the work at the 2010 price? According to Flake and most of the comments, the answer would be yes. But that's a pretty ridiculous statement given the facts.
The correct question is - did $58 billion in cuts get us back to 2008 levels (or whatever level Paul Ryan set for the appropriators)? If yes, we should all just shut up. If you don't save as much by doing something you promised to do (cut to 2008 levels) because the price of something was lower than you expected (2011 levels are lower than initially expected) it's not a failure, it's just the way things worked out.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHello???
Republicans won a huge victory in November on the fact the country was suffering from massive budget deficits. Voters want the size of government, and the deficits, cut.
And now the Republicans are wimping out? There is little that can be cut?
They're on their way to massive losses in 2012 and the re-election of a Democrat president.
Somebody knock some sense into these idiots!!!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt sounds like Cynthia Lummis also deserves some recognition here.
As for the rest of these Yahoos, $58 billion is a rounding error when you're talking a $1.5 trillion deficit, but I'm not surprised the deficit chickenhawks are having a hard time finding anything to cut. That was all just campaign rhetoric. Remember Boehner's ever so special "Pledge to America"? Pages of photos of children and puppies and flags all awave and then you got to page 21, where they promised to "put common-sense limits on the growth of government". We can't afford the government we've got, but all they could bring themselves to do is promise to let government grow perhaps a little slower than the Democrats would have.
Clearly, we have a lot of house-cleaning yet to do in Congress.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI really don't know what it is going to take to wake up the Republicans entrenched in Washington, DC. They seem to not understand what the American people are asking of them. We know it will not be easy and that sacrifices are going to have to be made but we are willing to make them in order to save our country from fiscal disaster. They better step up and do the hard work necessary.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLet's stop calling them Republicans. Let's call them Democrat-lite, then start a new party called "the Party of spines and brains" and let Flake and Lummis run it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse