Despite large majorities in the House and Senate, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price says Democratic demands for much higher spending across the board are forcing Republicans to maintain current federal spending levels until they can find enough Democratic cooperation to pursue greater fiscal discipline.
Republicans in the House and Senate approved budget blueprints months ago, that call for a balanced federal budget within ten years. They also insisted upon “regular order” for approving annual spending bills, meaning the 13 major bills would be considered and voted on separately. That is the way appropriations bills were passed historically and advocates say it greatly helps reduce the amount of wasteful projects that end up in catch-all omnibus spending bills.
Neither of those goals will advance this year.
“The president and Senate Democrats have decided they don’t want to pass any spending legislation unless there’s a lot more spending,” said Price, who says Obama not only wants more money across the board but especially for his favorite agencies that conservatives loathe.
“The president put out the word that he wasn’t going to sign any piece of spending legislation that didn’t increase spending on his favorite topics, like the IRS and the EPA,” said Price.
Price says the Republicans have tried to pursue a responsible process that results in less spending.
“The work that’s been done by the appropriations committees in both the House and the Senate has really been remarkable. The Senate has actually passed a number of pieces of appropriations legislation out of committee. The Democrats haven’t allowed those bills to come to the floor, because it takes 60 votes to get them to the floor. But they passed out of committee and the vast majority of them in a very bipartisan manner,” said Price.
The chairman claims Republicans got the message from voters in 2014 to get the government’s fiscal house in order. He says President Obama did not listen to voters and is playing hardball once again, leaving the GOP on defense.
“His constituency wants him to spend a whole lot more money and expand government and expand the ability of government to infringe upon people’s lives. We simply believe that’s the wrong direction to head and we will fight as hard as we can to make certain that that doesn’t happen,” said Price.
With Obama and Democrats demanding higher spending, Price says Republicans have reluctantly concluded they need to shelve their more conservative budget blueprint and just try to stop spending from going any higher.
“The only option really is what’s called a continuing resolution, simply to continue the spending levels at the current fiscal year and extend those into Fiscal Year 2016,” said Price. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to do that because that’s the responsible thing to do, to not spend more on the things that aren’t working but wait until we have an opportunity to work with a group of senators that actually want to solve problems as opposed to just getting in the way.”
Price hopes to avoid funding all of the next fiscal year at current rates. He hopes at least six Senate Democrats will eventually reach across the aisle to solve the impasse.
“Hopefully what will happen is that at least six Democrats will recognize that having the president shut down the government is not a wise thing to do. We will try as hard as we can to make certain the president isn’t able to shut down the government,” said Price.
Since the budget blueprint was approved earlier this year, taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood have come under fire after a series of Center for Medical Progress videos exposed officials for the the nation’s largest abortion provider callously referring to conducting abortions to preserve the organs of unborn babies for research and alleged profit. They also allege Planned Parenthood has killed babies that survived abortions and that are still moving as technicians cut through the face and harvest brain tissue for its clients.
Earlier this summer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to bring up an amendment to a highway funding bill that would defund Planned Parenthood. That move would only require a simple majority. Instead, McConnell called a separate vote on defunding Planned Parenthood that needed 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles. That vote failed.
In recent days, McConnell poured cold water on activists’ hopes of ending taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood this year.
““We just don’t have the votes to get the outcome that we’d like,” McConnell told WKYT’s “Issues and Answers” program. “Again, the president has the pen to sign it. If he doesn’t sign it, it doesn’t happen. But, yeah, we voted on that already in the Senate, we’ll vote on it again, but I would remind all of your viewers the way you make a law in this country, the Congress has to pass it and the president has to sign it.”
“The president’s made it very clear he’s not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that’s another issue that awaits a new president, hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood,” McConnell added.
Price admits the votes will be hard to find, but he’s still prepared to fight for defunding.
“We need to find whatever avenue is possible, whether it’s through the continuing resolution, whether it’s through an omnibus bill, whether it’s through any other piece of legislation, to try to make certain we try to hold the administration to account, yes, but to make certain that Planned Parenthood does not get the resources they currently get, over $500 million a year to continue this absolutely despicable act,” said Price.
The chairman says he understands and shares the frustration rising up within the conservative grassroots over sizable Republican majorities in Congress that cannot seem to advance their interests or stop the policies that matter most to Obama. Price says the people need to get loud and demand better government.
“It means that more political activity needs to occur. The American people need to engage as never before to hold people’s feet to the fire and to hold their representatives and senators to account and to demand of them responsible representative activity,” said Price.
