Members of the House Freedom Caucus warned Tuesday that they are not yet prepared to back a pair of Republican spending bills set to come to the floor this week. As GOP leaders look to start passing the 12 annual spending bills, the far-right group has been pressing Speaker Kevin McCarthy and their fellow Republicans for additional spending cuts, even if a showdown over spending levels results in a government shutdown this fall.
“We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of what we do up here is bad anyway,“ Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia said at a press conference Tuesday, repeating a line he’s used before. Good argued that Republicans should hold the line on spending and try to force President Joe Biden and Democrats to accept steeper cuts — and he argued that most Americans won’t notice if the government is shut down temporarily.
“We’re sounding the warning call,” Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, another Freedom Caucus member, said. “We’re reminding our leadership: You need the votes. And we’re begging our leadership: Listen to us. Do not take us on a further irresponsible spending path.”
What this fight is about: “Some conservatives worry that backing the two bills would signal support for the broader spending plans, which they complain rely on sleight-of-hand budgeting maneuvers to show budget reductions,” Siobhan Hughes of The Wall Street Journal explains. “The cuts won’t change the trajectory of future spending, they argue, because they don’t lower the levels from which all future increases will be determined, but instead would allow for a gross total of $1.59 trillion in spending in fiscal 2024, paired with $115 billion in cuts labeled ‘rescissions’ from other buckets including for the Internal Revenue Service.”