In other House Republican news, a leadership aide associates himself with the accuracy of this Roll Call story:
House Conservatives Persuade Leaders to Slash Spending Further
House Republican leaders have agreed to a key conservative demand that they make good on their campaign pledge to reduce fiscal 2011 spending to $100 billion less than President Barack Obama’s budget request, GOP aides said Wednesday.
According to a GOP leadership aide, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other leaders are working with Republican appropriators, the Republican Study Committee and other conservatives on a “unified” strategy to reduce spending beyond the $74 billion in cuts they had already planned. The cuts, which would only apply to non-defense discretionary spending, would come as part of a continuing resolution to fund the government between March and the end of the fiscal year.
“From the start, our focus has been to cut spending so that we can grow the economy, and right now there are a lot of moving parts and we’re actively working to bring the Conference together with a unified strategy,” the aide said.
It remains unclear how Republicans will make the additional $26 billion in cuts. Cantor has reportedly directed appropriators to stay on schedule and introduce their CR on Thursday. Because Republicans are still hashing out their strategy, it appears unlikely the additional cuts would be included in the bill, and a second aide suggested they could come in the form of an amendment.
It is also unclear whether the cuts will be made across the board or whether certain areas would be targeted for deeper cuts.
This is a big early win for new Republican Study Committee chairman Jim Jordan. Oddly, it may be one for his fellow Ohioan, John Boehner, early in his speakership, too. The incident adds some credibility to Boehner’s session-opening speech, during which he said:
Above all else, we will welcome the battle of ideas, encourage it, and engage in it – openly, honestly, and respectfully. As the chamber closest to the people, the House works best when it is allowed to work its will. I ask all members of this body to join me in recognizing this common truth.
As a democrat, I am thrilled, thrilled, thrilled about this!!!!!Wait till the country gets a look at what 100 billion in cuts really means...John, don't get too comfortable in that office.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusebetter, but it's S.S. and Medicaid/Medicare that is killing us, until they take a fire ax to those programs our future is still in dire jeopardy, and it greatly upsets me that they aren't even talking about it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, they're cutting $100 billion. But I thought we were supposed to go back to 2008 levels. You know darn well that that's a lot more than $100 billion less than the spender in chief's "budget" will be.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, and the extra $26 billion in cuts? How about taking it from the $53 billion boondoggle line for "high-speed" rail championed by boob-in-chief Biden.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt least the "leaders" are listening. But they sure haven't been impressive in leading.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI smell a rat. It's inconceivable that more money cannot be cut from this bloated budget, and these so called cuts don't even get us back to 2008, let alone 2006 which might be a good start.
Bad omen. The Stupid Party is celebrating already, and it already sounds like a scam.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuseback to 2008 level is at least 500 billion in cuts. Promise is not kept
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFixing this mess the hard way is going to be so painful, and the hard way looks more likely all the time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"The Stupid Party is celebrating already, and it already sounds like a scam."
And NRO is right there cheering them on and telling the rest of us how great an achievement this is.
Here are your crumbs! Now be happy you radicals.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSlash? Considering the size of our current and projected debt, $100 billion is but a nick.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHaha. Ridiculous, $100 billion is a joke.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI honestly can't believe the opinions here. You folks are crazy.
I am all for cutting the Feds to the bone, but you are ignoring the politics of all this, among other things.
First, this is less than a full fiscal year budget. The important budget to cut is the Fiscal 2012 budget being worked on later this year. That's where you kill bureaucracy, outdated programs that don't work, overlapping programs that do nothing, and cabinet departments that are useless.
This is a mess the Democrats made last year and dumped into the lap of the new Congress. I just hope the get the CR done then get to the real budget work ahead of us.
Second, there is zero chance the Democrats will accept both $100 Billion in cuts without a positive debt ceiling vote. We sit here and understand how messed up the Feds are, but you need to have these guys re-elected in 2012, and defeat Obama. You are totally ignoring the spin the Dems will use on these people in the coming elections. There are more than 5 or 6 people in the country who disagree with us, sorry to say.
Third, the problem the Feds have in terms of spending are entitlements. Yes, cut other spending to the bone. But the House Republicans have to start the fight on Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare now. That's where the problems are, and Rep. Ryan's roadmap deals with them.
Four, You are yelling about numbers that don't matter. The biggest increases in Federal spending were due to the stimulus, which now is going off the books, and also needs to be finally killed killed by the House.
You folks want everything right now since we won the 2010 election. We own 1/2 of 1/3 of the Federal government as of this moment, and we need to roll back Obama on a ton of other things, not just spending. This course will lead to serious trouble for our side in 2012, the last chance to change the direction of our country at the ballot box. That is what matters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe glee expressed by Ms. Maxwell is sad. This country is broke and we have to cut, and a lot more than 100 Billion. She seems to think she and everyone else is entitled to an unending gravy train at others expense. This is a start, but the Dem's, like Ms Maxwell, will be screaming like stuck pigs at even a $ 1.00 cut, so lets start with the 100 B then go for more.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse100 billion, 500 billion, a trillion...does it really matter? We're staring down the barrel at 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. This is insulting to anyone with a single firing synapse. The differences between the two parties is a rounding error and we've been hoodwinked again.
Hopefully Texas can secede. Now that the boomers are in line for their checks, we've got a good forty or so years before they finally all kick off - which means we won't ever elect people who legitimately want to address the problems we face.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@jkumpire
Well stated. A small, but timely victory. More to come.
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