Government Shutdown

Thune: Senate Republicans Might Escalate Gov't Shutdown Fight

Brian Beutler and Sahil Kapur | April 24, 2012, 3:21PM

A member of the Senate GOP leadership says he and his colleagues could end up backing House Republicans in their efforts to fund the government at levels below those agreed to in the bipartisan debt-limit deal last August, increasing the chances of a government shutdown fight just weeks before the 2012 election.

"I think the Budget Control Act stated caps and lids," said Sen. John Thune (R-SD) in the Capitol Tuesday. "It's not necessarily floors. And if the House appropriators can mark bills that will come in at that $1.028 [trillion] level, then more power to them. Of course, here they've already agreed that they're going to mark at the Budget Control Act levels, so that'll set up some interesting discussions in the conference committee. But I think we've got to be as aggressive as we can in trying to rein in the cost of government, the growth of government."

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Government Shutdown

House, Senate GOP At Odds Over Honoring Debt-Limit Deal

Brian Beutler | April 19, 2012, 12:22PM

House Republicans have set themselves up for a big fight with the White House over funding the federal government later this year -- but their Senate counterparts aren't exactly enthusiastic about it.

At a Thursday hearing to set federal funding levels for next year, 11 of 13 GOP appropriators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted to support capping annual spending at the level the parties agreed to during last summer's fight over raising the debt limit. House Republicans, by contrast, were forced by their conservative members to lower that cap, in violation of the agreement, and on Wednesday prompted an early veto threat from the White House. The contretemps could easily lead to a government shutdown fight one month before the election -- one Senate Republicans would apparently prefer to avoid.

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Government Shutdown

Obama To GOP: Abide By Debt Limit Deal Or Else Face A Govt Shutdown Right Before The Election

Brian Beutler | April 18, 2012, 4:36PM

President Barack Obama during his 2012 "State of the Union" address

In a major escalation of a slowly building fight over funding the government, the White House has warned House Republicans, in no uncertain terms, that the government will shut down in September if the GOP does not adhere to an agreement they cut with Democrats in August during the standoff over raising the nation's debt limit.

"Until the House of Representatives indicates that it will abide by last summer's agreement, the President will not be able to sign any appropriations bills," writes Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, in a letter addressed to congressional appropriators Wednesday.

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Government Shutdown

House Passes Legislation To Fund The Government

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 2:31PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

By a vote of 296-121, the House on Friday passed legislation to complete funding of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Eighty-six Republicans and 35 Democrats each voted against their party leaders on the measure.

The Senate is expected to take the measure up shortly, though it's unclear when it will hit the floor for a vote, as Senate leaders continue contentious negotiations over separate legislation to renew a two percent payroll tax cut next year.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems, Republicans Negotiate On Two Tracks To Avoid A Government Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 1:37PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Democratic and Republican sources say that a two track process will likely resolve the current standoff on Capitol Hill -- the key questions now are about timing and choreography.

House Republican and Senate Democratic appropriators are close to a deal to avert a government shutdown and fund federal programs through the end of September.

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Government Shutdown

Democrats Demand Boehner Avert Government Shutdown Threat

Brian Beutler | November 1, 2011, 10:57AM

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and the vast majority of House Democrats have signed a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pushing him to strip partisan policy riders out of must-pass legislation to fund the government after the money runs out later this month.

Yes, here we go again. House Republicans are advancing appropriations bills loaded with controversial measures that would defund the new health care law, scrap key environmental protections and more.

"As you know, there is longstanding precedent not to use appropriations bills to enact major changes in national policy, and the bills being reported from Appropriations subcommittees this year violate that precedent," wrote Hoyer in a letter signed by 182 other Democrats. "While not all policy riders are objectionable, many of those included this year are not only controversial but blatantly partisan. Included riders would block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, roll back important clean air and clean water protections, and place new restrictions on women's access to a full range of medical and health services, among others."

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Jobs

Reid To GOP: Don't Try To Delay The Next Jobs Vote

Brian Beutler | October 17, 2011, 3:03PM

On a Monday conference call with reporters, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) officially announced that he'll move ahead with the first stand-alone piece of President Obama's jobs bill this week -- a $35 billion state aid measure to prevent layoffs of teachers and emergency fist responders. But he's prepared for Republicans to stand in the way.

"I'll bring this bill for a vote as soon as possible," Reid told reporters, noting that the entire cost will be offset with a small fraction of the millionaire surtax Dems proposed to pay for the entire Obama jobs bill.

"As soon as possible" could be a while, if Republicans want to gum things up. The current business on the Senate floor is a so-called "minibus" appropriations bill, to fund the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture and other departments that will run out of money in November. For procedural and Constitutional reasons, Reid can't force a vote on the teacher and firefighter aid plan as an amendment to this approps bill -- so he's planning to move directly to it after the minibus has cleared the Senate, ideally by weeks end.

"There is no reason we cannot finish the appropriations bills before the end of the week, and have a vote on this jobs bill," Reid said. "I am happy to keep the Senate in session as long as needed to make sure we get a vote on this jobs bill."

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Government Shutdown

Dems Fuming Over GOP Threats To Planned Parenthood, Health Care Law

Brian Beutler | September 29, 2011, 4:58PM

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Republicans are attaching controversial cuts and policy measures to legislation required to run the biggest domestic department in the federal government, and if they don't back off there will likely be, you guessed it, another government shutdown fight.

Already, Democrats in both chambers are saying a draft of the House's Labor/Health and Human Services appropriations bill is dead on arrival, because it contains deep cuts to heating assistance for the poor, requires the repeal of a major provision of the health care law that will help provide assistance for disabled people, halts implementation of the entire law until the Supreme Court determines the constitutionality of its individual insurance mandate, and slashes Planned Parenthood and public broadcasting. Just for starters.

A Senate Dem aide familiar with appropriations issues weighs in with the following statement.

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Steny Hoyer

Hoyer: House Dems May Jam Boehner Over Disaster Relief

Brian Beutler | September 20, 2011, 11:57AM

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says Democrats may withhold their support for House legislation to fund the government if Republicans insist on pairing disaster relief with partisan budget cuts.

If Democrats vote against the funding bill en masse, it could leave House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) shy of the votes needed to pass the legislation, and force him to cut a deal on the Democrats' terms. Because if the impasse isn't bridged by the end of the month, the government will shut down.

"My presumption is they will offer a [funding bill] which has that offset in it and I think Democrats will be loath to support that effort," Hoyer told reporters at his weekly Capitol briefing.

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Government Shutdown

Cantor Calls On House GOP To Avoid Government Shutdown Brinksmanship

Brian Beutler | August 17, 2011, 12:44PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

In a significant de-escalation of partisan brinksmanship on Capitol Hill, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is asking his members not to push for further cuts to discretionary spending in the wake of the debt limit agreement.

"While all of us would like to have seen a lower discretionary appropriations ceiling for the upcoming fiscal year, the debt limit agreement did set a level of spending that is a real cut from the current year level," Cantor wrote in a Wednesday memo to House Republicans. "I believe it is in our interest to enact into law full-year appropriations bills at this new lower level."

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Debt Ceiling

Legislating By Crisis: A Chronicle Of The Coming Hostage Dramas On Capitol Hill

Brian Beutler | August 4, 2011, 6:10AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

Of the four party leaders on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the most disciplined. So when he says, for instance, his top priority is making Barack Obama a one-term President, it isn't a slip up. With that in mind, here's what he told the Washington Post about the debt limit fight.

"I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn't think that. What we did learn is this -- it's a hostage that's worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done."

This captures the legislative dynamic on Capitol Hill with blunt honesty. When they won an extension of the Bush tax cuts in December 2010, before their newly elected members were sworn in, Republicans settled on a strategy that works -- and they'll have plenty of opportunities to employ it again in the months ahead.

In fact it's already happening.

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Debt Ceiling

CHART OF THE DAY: 'Out Of Control Spending' Not Really Out Of Control At All

Brian Beutler | July 4, 2011, 11:25AM

It's taken as an article of faith in D.C. that government has gotten too big, spending is out of control, and Washington has to tighten its belt, just like everybody else. Even President Obama takes this view.

This has meant no small consequences for the federal budget. In the spring, Republicans launched an effort to slash tens of billions of dollars from non-defense discretionary programs -- money the government approves every year to pay for social services and other programs -- from the federal budget. That campaign almost ended in a government shutdown.

That same sliver of the budget is again under attack in the fight over whether to raise the national debt limit. Republicans want to reduce overall domestic spending and cap it for years going forward, so it can't exceed a set level. That means as time goes on, the population grows, and the cost of goods and services increases, the government will be spending less and less on the people who rely on these programs over time.

But a close look at the numbers reveals a few important, and frequently overlooked facts. Domestic discretionary spending is a small sliver of the budget. Our deficit and debts can be traced to the fact that spending on entitlement programs and defense has shot up, and tax revenues have plummeted to their lowest level in decades. But spending on domestic discretionary programs has grown much more slowly. And, if you correct for inflation, and for growing population, it turns out we're spending exactly the same amount on these programs as we were a full decade ago.

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Government Shutdown

Government Shutdown Looms As Boehner Balks

Susan Crabtree | April 5, 2011, 1:24AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) said lawmakers have yet to reach a budget deal after he and other congressional leaders met with President Obama this morning, upping the ante in the spending standoff and increasing the likelihood of a government shutdown by the end of the week.

"While there was good discussion, no agreement was reached," said a readout on the meeting from Boehner's office.

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Government Shutdown

Republicans Prepare To Reject Final White House Budget Offer

Brian Beutler | March 28, 2011, 1:24PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

It's been almost a week since House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House last sat down to hammer out a budget agreement, and the schedule's still blank. Accusations of bad faith are now flying from both sides. Republicans are poised to reject a White House offer, TPM has learned, that would cut over $30 billion in current spending because of disagreements over whether the package should include cuts to mandatory spending programs. Democrats are pushing for such cuts, which include the big entitlement programs, though the specific cuts they're proposing remain unclear. In an ironic twist, Republicans oppose those cuts and want to limit the negotiations to non-defense discretionary spending, a smaller subset of the federal budget.

Taken together, the last several days' worth of developments bode very poorly for the goal of reaching a six-month agreement on spending. The parties have until April 8 to reach agreement, and the odds of a government shutdown are higher now than they've been since this process began.

Asked about the offer the White House has floated, a top Republican aide says, "This debate has always been about discretionary spending -- not autopilot 'mandatory' spending or tax hikes."

If that position doesn't soften, it's hard to see how the two parties reach agreement.

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Spending

House Republicans Unveil Specific Cut Proposal

Brian Beutler | February 11, 2011, 7:39PM

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) with members of the Republican House leadership

As advertised, House Republicans late Friday unveiled a legislative proposal to cut discretionary spending by billions of dollars starting next month, through the end of the fiscal year in September.

You can download a summary of the proposed cuts here (PDF). These numbers could grow more severe during a spending debate on the House floor next week. Even if they don't, House Republicans face stiff opposition from the Democratically controlled Senate, which will demand the proposal be scaled back.

Reaching an agreement that satisfies both chambers and the White House could easily drag past March 4, when current funding for the federal government expires. If it does, Congress would either have to pass a short-term extension of current funding, or touch off a government shutdown.

Spending

GOP Previews Specific Spending Cuts

Brian Beutler | February 9, 2011, 3:15PM

Ahead of the GOP's official Thursday release of federal spending legislation, the House Appropriations Committee has unveiled a list of 70 specific cuts that package will include -- not a comprehensive list, but, according to a committee spokesperson, illustrative of the sorts of cuts that it will contain.

They are copied below the fold. Already interest groups that will be impacted by the cuts are lining up in opposition. According to today's sneak peak, the GOP will propose nixing the entire Title X family planning program (already the subject of some controversy among party leaders), and will slash $1.3 billion from Community Health Centers relative to President Obama's request. Compare that to the entire Internal Revenue Service, which would lose $593 million -- less than half that amount.

"The new anti-choice House leadership now wants to take away birth control and cancer screenings from millions of American women and men," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL/Pro-hoice America. "While these politicians attack abortion coverage from every angle, they now want to deny funding for birth control, even though that's the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy. Americans will not stand for this blatant hypocrisy."

You can read more about these specific cuts here. More when we learn it.

Keep in mind, the cuts listed are relative to President Obama's budget proposal, not to actual current spending.

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Earmarks

Senate Approprations Committee Gives Into Obama On Earmarks

Evan McMorris-Santoro | February 2, 2011, 8:55AM

Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HI)

Senate Appropriations chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) says that the days of earmarking in spending bills are over, thanks to the Republican ban on the practice in the House and President Obama's unwillingness to support earmarks in the future.

In what could amount to be a big political victory for the White House, Inouye told his colleagues in the Senate Tuesday not to bother sending him their requests for earmarks. A notorious earmarker himself, Inouye said that there just wasn't any point in trying to continue earmarking after Obama so vehemently turned on the practice in his State of the Union address earlier this month.

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Health Care

Democrats Welcome Health Care Spending Fight With Republicans

Brian Beutler | January 19, 2011, 2:27PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

As much as conservatives would like Wednesday's House vote on repealing health care to be binding, it's really just symbolic. The Republicans' real legislative leverage over the bill will come during spending fights later this year, when the GOP appropriators in the House can demand funding cuts to stymie the implementation of the law.

Democrats in the Senate will object, and if the two chambers don't break the gridlock, it could even lead to a government shutdown. To push the GOP back from the brink, Democrats will cast the skirmish with Republicans not as an abstract fight over spending, but as a disagreement between the parties over providing benefits to people.

At a health care event in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday, top Democrats laid this strategy out. "I think we have to discreetly respond, 'This is what withholding funding for this aspect of [the law] -- this is what it means to you,'" said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

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John Boehner

House GOP: Cut Gov't Spending By 20 Percent Despite Economic Impact

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2010, 11:39AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Boehner (R-OH), and Eric Cantor (R-VA)

This week, Congress is expected to continue funding the government at current levels through early March -- at which point a newly Republican House of Representatives will get to take an axe to the federal budget. Naturally, they're promising dramatic cuts in non-defense spending.

"I don't know what's going to happen here today, or tomorrow, or Sunday in terms of how we keep the government funded," said soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner at his weekly press conference last week. "But what I can tell you is all you have to do is go to the Pledge to America and we outline pretty... clearly that we believe that spending at '08 levels is more than sufficient to run the government."

Cuts at that level would have an impact on more than departmental budgets.

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Harry Reid

After Spending Bill Implodes, Reid Schedules Vote on DADT Repeal

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2010, 8:49PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

On Thursday night, Senate Republicans killed must-pass legislation to fund the government, and forced Democrats to accept GOP spending demands to avert a federal shutdown. The development infuriated Democratic members and led to unusually angry, churlish exchanges on the Senate floor. But as a consolation prize for defeated Democrats, they'll have a real shot at finally repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Sunday evening.

After long deliberations with Republican principals Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor that nine GOP members had reneged on their pledges to vote for the omnibus spending bill, which reflected months of bipartisan negotiations, and included earmarks benefiting both parties.

That left Reid several votes shy of the 60 he'd need to overcome a filibuster and essentially vaporized a year's worth of work by the Appropriations Committee.

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Earmarks

Attention GOP Porkers: Hatch Had His Earmark Requests Stripped From Spending Bill

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2010, 3:45PM

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Republican Senators whose earmark requests pepper the much-maligned omnibus spending bill are having a really hard time explaining how they went from requesting earmarks earlier this year to decrying the legislation... because of all the earmarks. But never let it be said that those requests were baked into the spending package before the anti-pork wave hit in November.

After the Republican caucus voted to impose an earmark moratorium last month, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) -- who's likely to face a primary challenge from the right in 2012 -- asked Senate appropriators to strip his earmarks from the omnibus.

"I did," Hatch confirmed to me this afternoon after a Senate vote, "because I decided I voted for the moratorium, and I thought 'well, I need to do that.'"

He's having an easier day than a lot of Republican senators who are having to answer charges of hypocrisy.

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Appropriations

Republicans Make Good On Threat To Force Lame Duck Spending Showdown

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2010, 11:25AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Before the midterms, conservative leaders were warning that they'd force a showdown over federal spending much earlier than expected: in the lame duck session, before the newly elected Republicans come to Washington.

They weren't joking. Republican and Democratic leaders are now engaged in a brinksmanship that could result in a temporary shutdown of the federal government. After the election, Republicans voted among themselves to eschew all earmarks for two years, and now they have to make good on their pledge. Yesterday, Democrats' chief appropriator, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) unveiled what's known as an omnibus spending bill -- a bundled up package of appropriations legislation, earmarks, and other measures -- which would keep the government running for a year.

In response, most Republicans -- even those whose multimillion dollar earmark requests are included in the legislation -- are saying, "Hell no you can't!"

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Hal Rogers

New GOP Approps Chair Rogers Was 'Porker Of The Month' In August

Brian Beutler | December 8, 2010, 2:29PM

Representative Hal Rogers (R-KY)

Yesterday, House Republicans dealt the Tea Party and conservative advocacy groups a blow by electing Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee next year.

Rogers is a famous earmarker, and a lot of critics see this as a harbinger that the GOP earmark ban might not be as ironclad as they'd like folks to believe. But just how much earmarking did Rogers really do? Enough to be named "Porker of the Month" by an anti-pork pressure group just four months ago.

Citizens Against Government Waste saddled Rogers with the award for "sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter's nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs."

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Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

Midterms Leave Top Democratic Surrogate Debbie Wasserman Schultz In The Lurch

Brian Beutler | November 24, 2010, 8:37AM

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

The 2010 midterm elections were kind of a bummer, if you're a Democrat. Among Democrats who survived the bloodbath, it's a really big bummer for Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) -- an appropriator and prolific fundraiser whose role in the 2012 cycle is now unclear.

With over 60 seats lost and the party relegated to minority status, the party has fewer perks -- leadership positions, plum committee assignments, etc. -- to offer its most influential members. As you might expect, it's created visible tension within the party. It's also added some bumps to Wasserman Schultz's once-clear path to party leadership.

When the Republicans take over next year, the ratios on House committees will practically flip. For a lot of Democrats -- particularly senior members -- this won't matter much. There's frequently some correspondence between the number of spots the losing party loses on a committee, and the number of members of that committee who are defeated or retire.

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Jim DeMint

Congress Sets Stage For Major Spending Showdown In December

Brian Beutler | September 30, 2010, 10:51AM

Democrats and Republicans are prepared for a big fight over spending next year if the balance of power on Capitol Hill changes hands. Some are even forecasting a government shutdown. But that fight could actually come earlier than anybody expected, particularly if Republicans make huge gains in November. As Congress adjourns for elections season they've set the stage for a tussle over spending this year.

Late last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) lost a little-noticed vote on government spending. In a hurry to hit the campaign trail, members of Congress left Washington without passing annual spending bills to keep the government running. Instead, Congress passed temporary legislation to keep the lights on temporarily -- until December 3, to be precise. To DeMint, this was a direct affront -- a ploy by Democrats to force a spending fight before newly elected members of Congress, mostly Republicans, are sworn in. He wanted Congress to keep the lights on until January, so the new Congress could make its own spending decisions.

His legislation failed, setting the stage for a loud political fight this fall.

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