It’s now looking less likely that fiscally conservative House lawmakers will win spending cuts in the fiscal 2017 budget deal.
After lawmakers huddled Tuesday, it became clear that the House will not vote on a $1.07 trillion fiscal 2017 budget resolution this week. GOP leaders are holding off because conservative Republicans still want the number slashed to $1.04 billion.
But the appropriations process is moving ahead without a budget resolution and will adhere to the the $1.07 trillion spending cap agreed upon last last year by Congressional Republicans, Democrats and President Obama, for 2017.
On Wednesday the Appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs will vote on an $81.6 billion measure that increases spending $1.8 billion over fiscal 2016.
Appropriators say sticking to the $1.07 trillion cap for 2017 spending is the only way Congress would be able to move spending legislation, since the lower figure would require domestic cuts that many lawmakers will oppose, and legislation that would fail in the Senate. And the more work that gets done on the spending bills, the harder it will be to pare back the number later.
“It’s going to have to end up at $1.07 [trillion] if we are going to have a legitimate appropriations process,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a member of the Appropriations Committee, said after a closed-door Republican meeting.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday he wants to pass a budget resolution. Republican budget leaders earlier this month presented a plan to pass the higher budget level, and hold a standalone vote that would trim entitlement spending by $30 billion.
But so far, that’s not enough to win over dozens of fiscal conservatives whose votes are needed to pass the budget plan. They argue the standalone measure cutting entitlement costs is just a gimmick because it doesn’t have to pass, and thus will die in the House and never become law.
“We’re still having that family conversation with our members about how to proceed with the budget,” Ryan admitted after meeting with Republicans.
The House can begin passing spending bills on May 15 if the chamber does not approve a budget resolution. In the meantime, the Appropriations committees have begun taking up spending bills.
“What we did not want to do is slow the appropriators down for the spadework that they have to do at the committee level,” Ryan said, adding that he is not planning to hold votes on spending bills yet.
“We need to do a budget,” he said.
Conservatives say the talks are “civil,” and they remain hopeful.
“At this point we are just looking for some kind of meaningful offset that will allow us to support the higher number,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told the Washington Examiner. “One that has an opportunity to become law. It can happen. Right now a lot of people are really trying to find a way to unify.”
But another factor entered the equation after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels. Womack said that event bolsters the argument for the higher spending figure, since half of the increase is designated for defense spending.
“It does remind us all we have a proliferating threat and we can’t sit back and rest on our laurels and expect to continue to whittle our Defense Department down to where it can’t do our nation’s business,” Womack said. “That would be tragic.”
