Debt and deficit hawks on Wednesday blasted the Senate vote against starting work on a bill to cut $15 billion in unspent federal funds.
The Senate called up a House bill to rescind that money and called for a vote to start debate on the bill. But the Senate voted against the idea 48-50, after two Republicans voted with Democrats: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Richard Burr of North Carolina.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the vote shows how unwilling Congress is to cut any spending, even when it’s unspent money appropriated in years past.
“It is unacceptable — but no surprise — that the swamp’s bipartisan addiction to spending other people’s money is so severe that the Senate refused to simply consider cutting funding that is no longer needed or authorized,” Paul said.
“I am disappointed by this Congress’ failure to even pretend it takes fiscal responsibility seriously,” he said. “Our $21 trillion debt poses the greatest danger to our national security and is only getting worse by the minute. Most frustratingly of all, it is largely a self-created threat.”
Paul said Congress needs to “grow up” and recognize that the U.S. government will fail at some point in the future “when it goes broke.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted that he was “disappointed” in the Senate vote.
I am disappointed the Senate failed today to pass the President’s $15 billion spending cut package. This is a small, but critical, first step to rein in wasteful government spending and provide relief from our nation’s crippling debt.
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 20, 2018
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, took an indirect shot at Collins and Burr for voting with Democrats not to cut the unneeded funds.
“I thought we all campaigned on cutting wasteful spending,” Lee said. “I thought our party was about lowering federal deficits by lowering federal spending.”
“It saddens me to see people who campaigned on lower spending break their promise and vote with Democrats against President Trump,” he said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., agreed with his colleagues.
“At a time when our country faces serious fiscal challenges, we can’t even rescind money that will never be spent?” Rubio asked. “Today’s vote was a disappointment, and it’s time we got serious about getting our federal spending under control.”
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a deficit hawk when he was in the House, applauded those who voted for the rescissions bill, but said the failure of the bill is a problem for the fiscal future of the U.S.
“It is disappointing that the Senate chose to reject this commonsense plan, and the American people should be asking their representatives in Washington one simple question: If they cannot pass good-government legislation to recapture unnecessary funds, how can we ever expect them to address Washington’s staggering debt and deficit problem?” Mulvaney said.
“I can assure you that the president and this administration will continue our efforts to get government spending under control,” he said.
About half of the money rescinded by the bill would have come from unspent Children’s Health Insurance Program funding, and about $4.3 billion would have come from the Department of Energy.
Republicans put the bill together after Congress passed, and President Trump signed, a spending plan for 2018 and 2019 that would see a $300 billion spending increase. Conservatives came up with the rescissions bill as a way to signal a recommitment to reducing the budget deficit and the national debt, although many conservatives scoffed that the bill dealt with just a fraction of the new money Congress just approved.
