Budget-cutting bill passes House again by narrow margin
Measure would trim the deficit by $39 billion over five years, largely through changes to student loan and entitlement programs.
The House narrowly approved legislation to trim the federal budget deficit by $39 billion over five years Wednesday, 216-214, finally sending the measure to the president's desk after a process that began with President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget proposal last February.
The bill accounts for about 0.3 percent of a federal budget expected to total about $14 trillion over five years. House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, said it "begins the process" of reining in entitlement spending. But he said Congress needs to do reconciliation "on a more routine and regular basis," joining Senate Budget Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., in advocating another round this year.
This year's largely symbolic effort to control the growth of entitlement spending is the first since 1997, and it took a considerable amount of political capital for GOP leaders to push through. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., made delivering a budget victory a focal point of his abilities in the run-up to Thursday's election for majority leader.
The bill finds more than two-thirds of its savings through changes to the federal student loan program and the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare entitlements. CBO estimates the health programs and Social Security are the primary drivers of runaway mandatory spending growth. Savings also come from broadcast spectrum sales, pension premium increases and other programs.
After the measure narrowly cleared both chambers last month, Senate Democrats used a procedural move under budget rules to kick it back to the House for a re-vote. Democrats and activists, contending the deal was hatched in secret by Republicans and special interest patrons at the expense of the poor, used the month-long delay to lobby furiously against it.
The lobbying paid off somewhat as four moderate Republicans who voted for the measure in December, when it passed the House 212-206, switched their votes. They were Reps. John Sweeney of New York, Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania, Jim Ramstad of Minnesota and Rob Simmons of Connecticut.
"We need to address wasteful and outdated programs and rein in the unnecessary growth in federal spending without unduly hurting the needy and vulnerable," Gerlach said in a statement, adding the bill "took some steps in that direction, but in my opinion needed much more work before it was passed."
An aide said Sweeney was concerned about a Senate-added provision that might allow hospitals to turn away some Medicaid patients for non-emergency care.
Blunt said the votes were no surprise, as he went to the floor with a list of 13 Republicans who had whipped as "no" votes, not enough to defeat the bill. The 13, including Gerlach and a handful of other moderates facing tough re-election fights, voted against the bill.
"Any time you try to reform mandatory spending and then have the bill out there for people to look at for six and seven weeks and have 527s spending money in 11 members' districts, that's a very tough thing for members to do," Blunt said. "But the fact is, they came back and did it and we were able to let the members vote 'no' that needed to vote no."
"The universe was very small so we didn't have to work very hard at all," Blunt added. His chief rival for majority leader, House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Boehner, R-Ohio, helped engineer pension and student loan changes in the bill. Boehner issued a statement after final passage saying "our real success in this effort will be determined not by what we have done, but what we will do next," and he called for "fundamental budget and entitlement reform."
Despite the savings, GOP tax cut legislation that will move under similar expedited "reconciliation" rules of debate is expected to cost up to $70 billion in lost revenues over the same time period -- more than wiping out the spending cut bill's $39 billion savings.
"All of this to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest people in our nation," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who called it an "immoral budget" and representative of a "closed and corrupt Congress."