{"id":62751,"date":"2018-04-11T05:38:27","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T05:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=62751"},"modified":"2018-04-11T05:38:27","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T05:38:27","slug":"conservatives-irate-gops-spending-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/conservatives-irate-gops-spending-hypocrisy.html","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives irate over GOP’s spending hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conservatives irate over GOP’s spending hypocrisy<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

House Republican leaders, stung by President Donald Trump\u2019s rebuke of Congress\u2019 recent trillion-dollar spending spree, are moving to give their rank and file cover by passing a balanced budget amendment this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

But many conservatives, including a good number of House Republicans, say the vote is insincere at best \u2014 and blatantly hypocritical at worst.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no one on Capitol Hill, and certainly no one on Main Street, that will take this vote seriously,\u201d said Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), on the heels of a $1.3 trillion spending package that Republicans approved just last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is just trying to check a box here,\u201d added Andrew Roth, vice president for government affairs at the Club for Growth. \u201cI don\u2019t see how voters can distinguish between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to spending.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One conservative commentator, Barbara Boland, equated the upcoming exercise to \u201cgorging on a sumptuous feast while insisting that you want a svelte physique.\u201d And other members of the House Freedom Caucus, all of whom voted against a $1.3 trillion spending package in late March, are calling it little more than a charade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe time to get spending under control was four weeks ago,\u201d said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), again referring to the late-March spending vote. \u201cComing back four weeks later and saying, \u2018Oh, now we\u2019re going to pound our chest like Tarzan and say we\u2019re for a balanced budget amendment,\u2019 it\u2019s not going to fool anybody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Jordan and Meadows support the balanced budget amendment as a marker for fiscal austerity \u2014 it\u2019s the timing of the vote, on the heels of the spending bonanza, that rankles them and other conservatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal requires supermajorities in both chambers to pass, as well as ratification by three-quarters of the states, an impossible hurdle. But with Republicans swimming in red ink \u2014 the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected regular trillion-dollar annual deficits starting in 2020, despite a growing economy \u2014 the party feels pressure to do something.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CBO\u2019s deficit forecast hasn\u2019t been that bleak since the Great Recession. And this time, Republicans can\u2019t blame Barack Obama and the Democrats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather, it\u2019s a result of a combination of GOP-approved bills: tax cuts that CBO now expects to add $1.9 trillion to the deficit over 10 years; a newly passed bipartisan deal to raise strict spending caps by $320 billion for two years; and a recent $100 billion infusion of cash into emergency disaster coffers \u2014 almost entirely unpaid for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The balanced budget amendment has been a staple of the GOP playbook going back at least to Newt Gingrich\u2019s 1994 Contract with America. It often resurfaces after major spending battles that leave conservatives feeling jilted. The last vote, for instance, followed the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, when Republicans were anxious about the national debt, which now tops $20 trillion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans are returning to it two weeks after Trump chided Congress for wasting money in the omnibus spending deal \u2014 a scolding that came as the president backed away from a threatened veto and signed it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will never sign another bill like this again,\u201d Trump vowed, adding that \u201cthere are a lot of things I\u2019m unhappy about\u201d with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

His remarks, GOP lawmakers and aides say, effectively threw every Republican who backed the bipartisan deal under the bus at a time when the party already faces an uphill battle retaining its majority this fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hill Republicans were shocked because White House staff members were in the room negotiating the budget deal with the top four leaders in both chambers. They had reassured some skittish Republicans that it was OK to take the vote because Trump would have their backs.<\/span><\/p>\n

When they returned home afterward for the spring recess, some Republicans caught flak from constituents, which in turn sent GOP leaders into damage-control mode.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis reads as, \u2018Give us something to hide behind,\u2019 rather than a serious process proposal,\u201d said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, who said she\u2019d believe the sincerity of the effort when Republicans propose a budget with actual spending cuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not all fiscal hawks are scorning the effort. Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.), who asked for a vote on a balanced budget amendment in October, applauded the looming vote \u2014 even as he acknowledged the uncomfortable timing for the GOP. Walker argued that it\u2019s consistent for Republicans to back the amendment after voting for the omnibus, because of the need to fund the military. Walker added, though, that most members pushing hard for deficit-reduction votes right now personally opposed the spending bill, as he did.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t see this as a show vote. We need this. It\u2019s something that we\u2019ve been talking about for years,\u201d Walker said Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The balanced budget amendment is one of several measures GOP leaders might bring to the floor in the coming weeks to signal their commitment to lower spending. The effort is being led by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is working with the White House to try to force a vote on a \u201crescissions\u201d package that would cut billions of dollars from the just-approved omnibus legislation.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s still unclear whether the House will take up the measure, which GOP aides say could cut as much as $20 billion. House appropriators hate the idea, and some more pragmatic-minded Republicans argue it would cripple bipartisan spending negotiations in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans clinched the amount they got for defense only because they gave Democrats some money for their own pet projects. A move to recoup money retroactively would infuriate Democrats \u2014 even though GOP leaders fully expect it would fail in the Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

GOP leaders similarly expect the balanced budget amendment to fail this week in the House. It requires 290 votes for passage; the last time lawmakers voted on one, in 2011, it failed 261-165, with 25 Democrats backing the bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaker Paul Ryan was one of only four Republicans to oppose the measure at the time. It is unclear whether he will do so again this year. He said the proposal before the House then could have led to higher taxes to pay for more spending.<\/span><\/p>\n

A balanced budget amendment would tightly restrict federal spending and require two-thirds of lawmakers to approve any tax changes. Critics argue it would trigger hundreds of billions of dollars in across-the-board cuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically, a balanced budget amendment would have potentially prevented the GOP Congress\u2019 biggest legislative achievement this year: tax reform. With the amendment, Republicans could not have enacted tax cuts that weren\u2019t paid for; these ones were not. The GOP also probably couldn\u2019t have gotten the huge budget increase for the Pentagon that was included in the omnibus.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Tuesday that he might follow suit on a balanced budget amendment vote. He said a vote is \u201clikely \u2026 at some point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats are blasting Republicans for what House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer called a \u201cpolitical stunt.\u201d The Maryland Democrat on Tuesday said Republicans are \u201cworried\u201d about the midterm elections and \u201cthey\u2019re flailing about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds to me very much,\u201d he said, \u201clike they\u2019re \u2026 saying one thing and doing another, speaking out of both sides of their mouth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2018\/04\/10\/budget-hypocrisy-conservatives-republicans-512463<\/span><\/p>\n

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