One central piece of the recent debt limit agreement worked out by Republicans in Congress and President Biden was a deal for what’s basically a two-year freeze on federal spending.
It was a classic compromise to avoid an unprecedented government default. Democrats wanted to spend more. The GOP wanted to spend less. The two sides met in the middle.
But that deal is already out the window.
It only took two weeks for House Republicans to disavow the funding part of the agreement, as the House GOP will now reduce spending back to levels in 2022, which will require cuts of well over $100 billion in domestic programs.
The GOP move came after conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus stopped all work on the House floor for a week, angered by the lack of spending cuts — as they accused the Speaker of not keeping his word.
“When Kevin McCarthy became Speaker, he promised to keep spending at 2022 levels,” said U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.
But while most Republicans support lower spending, they also know compromise will be needed with the Senate and the President to get anything done.
“This is not about any individual or even the Speaker,” said U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton. “It’s about governing.”
And this is where it gets tricky for Republicans. Any group of 5-10 GOP lawmakers — like the Freedom Caucus — can derail almost any bill at any time. That makes ‘governing’ difficult.
“As I’ve said before, we cannot govern when 5% of the conference intentionally creates controversy to try to dictate what the other 95% do,” Scott added.
As a way to keep conservatives on board, Republicans are developing all sorts of policy riders to be included in next year’s funding bills for Uncle Sam — which could bar federal spending on everything from the prosecution of former President Donald Trump to the promotion of Critical Race Theory.
“What in tarnation is Critical Race Theory?” asked U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, who called the GOP plan a ‘dog whistle.’
Even as Republicans were moving to make spending cuts, they still agreed to fund some home-state goodies along the way.
For example, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, won $22 million for a security facility at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta. It was one of two dozen ‘earmarks’ included in a military construction funding bill sent to the House floor.
That will be an easy bill to pass, but spending bills with deep cuts might test GOP unity. We’ll have a good idea how well House Republicans can ‘govern’ by the end of July.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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