With revolt brewing, House GOP backs off budget deal

Tea party wing rejects tentative deal to cut roughly $30 billion in cuts from current spending levels, boosting odds of a shutdown.

House Republican leaders are back where they started in negotiations over funding the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year. Concerned about a revolt by the conservative, tea-party wing of the party, GOP leaders have pulled back from a tentative deal to cut roughly $30 billion in cuts from current spending levels. The influence that tea-party conservative now exercise over the process put the chances of a compromise seriously in doubt.

The deja vu nature of the negotiations raises the distinct possibility that the government could shut down after the April 8 expiration of the current stopgap spending measure. Congress could also pass a seventh temporary extension since the end of the fiscal year on September 30, but lawmakers' appetites for them appear to have run out.

A congressional aide briefed on negotiations said Monday that Republicans had -- at one point -- agreed to work on a deal with the White House that would cap discretionary spending for fiscal 2011 at $1.055 trillion, which is $35 billion less than the fiscal 2010 level and $74 billion less than what was requested by President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget.

But the aide said the GOP pulled back from that agreement last week after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., warned House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, that the deal would trigger a revolt from tea party conservatives.

That agreement had come after Republicans rejected a Democratic offer with $11 billion in total cuts. Republicans had been pushing for $61 billion in cuts over seven months, which amounts to $100 billion in cuts compared to Obama's fiscal 2011 budget. The House passed the GOP proposal in February.

Negotiators included staff from the offices of Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.

But, "They pulled the rug out," the congressional aide said of that agreement last week. "They brought the negotiations back to square one, after the speaker indicated he could agree to a figure that was about half-way between," the aide said.

An additional conflict came over including some cuts to mandatory spending, which Democrats said Republicans have resisted. Aides in both parties said talks between Reid's and Boehner's staffs continue, but that no conversations involving the White House are currently set.

The scenario is similar to one that played out in early February, when House Republican leaders were forced to add more cuts to a continuing resolution written by the House Appropriations Committee and set by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would have also capped discretionary spending at $1.055 trillion.

House GOP aides disputed that characterization of the talks. "Not true," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, when he was pressed for a response on Monday. Steel added that the talks are continuing, and that, "No agreement will be made or announced until all of the outstanding issues -- including funding limitations -- are settled."

"At this point, the House has done its work by passing a bill, and the Democrats who run Washington have not," said Steel. "No spin can change that fact."

Another Republican congressional aide said that "candid conversations" among the GOP leaders about strategy are ongoing, amid the continued talks with Democrats. But the aide said those GOP conversations should not be portrayed or misconstrued as signs of internal division, but rather "honest and open conversations about how we can best proceed."

Against this backdrop Monday, one of the nation's largest tea party groups -- the Tea Party Patriots -- announced details of their planned "Continuing Revolution" rally near the Capitol this Thursday.

The event is being described as an effort to underscore the growing impatience with Republicans, in particular, for not taking a tougher stand on the Washington spending standoff.

In a sign of what Boehner is facing, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., Steve King, R-Iowa, Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Tom Graves, R-Ga., are to be among the speakers at the rally, held at the Robert A. Taft Memorial, west of the upper Senate Park.

Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for Liberty; Colin Hanna, founder of Let Freedom Ring; and Dick Morris are also listed as speakers.

"Our country is in critical financial despair, our economy is stuck in recession, and all Americans are feeling the effects. Meanwhile, it's business as usual in Washington. They are continuing their resolutions, which don't seem to be resolving much of anything," an alert for the rally states.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.