A core group of conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives is standing firm against any deal on the debt limit that doesn’t include major budget and spending reforms. Thirty-six House Republicans have signed the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” pledge, which demands Congress make “substantial” spending cuts for next year and thereafter, pass important future spending caps, and begin a process for passing a balanced budget constitutional amendment. (Twelve GOP senators have also signed the pledge.) Several of those House members have said they will accept nothing less than the provisions of the pledge before voting to increase the debt ceiling.
“I believe that is the only plan,” said Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia. “Let’s put the votes up on the board.”
Graves’s fellow Georgian Rep. Phil Gingrey said the Cut, Cap, and Balance approach is “absolutely” essential to get his vote on raising the debt limit. “This is a moment in time, he said. “We’ve got to change the way we do business here in Washington.”
In a statement released yesterday, Rep. Dan Benishek of Michigan reiterated his position that he will l not support any increase in the debt limit unless it is paired with significant structural changes to our federal government’s spending”—namely, the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan.
Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana concurred in a floor speech last week. “I believe our debt limit should not be raised without real and meaningful reforms in the way the federal government spends the people’s money in the short term and the long term,” Pence said. “In the short term, we need to cut spending now and implement statutory caps on how much money the federal government can spend going forward.”
The critical element of the plan, however, is the balanced budget amendment. The details of the cuts and caps, conservatives say, are less important than the guarantee of real spending controls. “There’s great flexibility when it comes to cuts. There’s great flexibility with it comes to caps,” said Rep. Joe Walsh, who introduced with Rep. Bob Goodlatte the House bill proposing the amendment back in January. “The big enchilada is getting this balance [in the budget].”
But it’s only been recently that John Boehner and Eric Cantor have seriously considered the amendment. “At the time [the bill was introduced], the Republican leadership scoffed at this,” said Walsh, a freshman member from Illinois. “I think leadership now is where the Republican rank and file are.”
Indeed, the Republican leadership is now embracing what they once, in Walsh’s words, “rolled their eyes” at. Yet the hurdles for passing any constitutional amendment are high, particularly in a divided government. The amendment bill would have to pass Congress by a two-thirds majority in each house before heading to the states for ratification.
“I’m very confident that the states will pass a balanced budget amendment,” said Gingrey. He cautioned he would need to have the “utmost confidence” that such an amendment would get through Congress before he would vote to increase the debt limit.
But even as House leadership moves toward the conservative coalition, the challenges continue and even grow as the August 2 deadline looms. According to reports from the negotiations, President Obama has moved toward small spending cuts and is insisting that Republicans compromise on their opposition to raising taxes. And while the GOP has a sizable majority in the House, the Democratic Senate, let alone Obama, stands as a bulwark against any conservative solutions. Walsh isn’t concerned about the near-term future of the balanced budget amendment.
“The debate has shifted. My hope is within a week, this will be the plan,” Walsh said. “I’m optimistic we’ve got a real shot to pass this bill out of both houses of Congress.
“We did not come here to blink,” he added, speaking of his fellow freshmen Republicans in the House.
And what will happen if there’s no agreement by August 2? “You know, I really don’t know,” said Gingrey. On Congress’s chances of passing a debt limit increase, he said, “I think it’s about a 50-50 crapshoot.”
