Congressional conservatives on Thursday demanded far more dramatic reductions in government spending than House GOP leaders have recently proposed, in the first sign of a fissure between old-guard Republicans and tea-party-backed newcomers.
Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee said the GOP must keep its campaign pledge to immediately slice at least $100 billion from non-defense programs, an effort that would require lawmakers to reduce funding for most federal agencies by a third over the next seven months. And the group called for even deeper cuts over the next decade to return non-defense spending to 2006 levels.
"One hundred billion dollars is the number the American people heard last fall. And, frankly, when you look at it in the context that there's a $14 trillion debt, it seems to me we should be able to find $100 billion," said Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), chairman of the study committee, a group of economic and social conservatives whose ranks have swelled since the GOP won back control of the House in the November midterm elections.
Reducing the size of the government is the top priority of many lawmakers who were swept into Congress last fall on a tide of public anger about the rising national debt and federal spending on the economy. The dispute over spending cuts is the first show of force by this new contingent and suggests that compromise with Democrats on fiscal issues could prove extraordinarily difficult.
With 165 members - including 73 freshmen, many of them elected with tea party support - the study committee represents more than two-thirds of House Republicans. Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) will be under great pressure to meet their demands, even though his top budget lieutenant has backed away from the $100 billion pledge since taking office this month, saying it would be too hard to meet that goal with so much of the fiscal year gone.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who is empowered by new House rules to unilaterally set a limit on spending, has said he plans to direct appropriators to slice only about $60 billion from this year's budget. The House Appropriations Committee is identifying cuts at that level.
But dissatisfaction with that approach erupted Wednesday, when the House Rules Committee began considering a largely symbolic measure aimed at reaffirming the commitment to reduce spending. Freshman Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) insisted on changing the language to require faster and deeper cuts than Ryan has proposed. The full House is set to vote on the measure Tuesday, hours before President Obama delivers his State of the Union address.
Read more at The Washington Post.