Susan Ferrechio details for Washington Examiner readers the latest projections for a congressional spending plan.
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. …
… 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-Ariz., 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.
