Appropriations

House GOP says party will seek $100 billion in spending cuts "in one fell swoop" after revolt from freshmen.

The conservative Club for Growth in an e-mail Thursday urged all House members to vote “no” on a continuing resolution funding the government after March 4 if it does not cut at least $100 billion in spending.

“We plan to include such amendments and final passage in our 2011 Congressional Scorecard,” the Club said in its e-mail.

A bipartisan group of senators said Tuesday that they expect President Obama to back their bill granting him a watered down version of the line-item veto.

The senators expect Obama to reiterate his support for “enhanced rescission” as the power is officially known in his 2012 budget request due out Feb. 14.

Bill sponsors Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) said they have discussed their the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act with the administration and noted that last May, Obama expressed support for this type of power. It would enable him to eliminate earmarks and other wasteful spending from appropriations bills.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said in a Monday interview that if GOP leadership wants his vote on raising the nation’s debt ceiling, it will have to back an amendment he is preparing that would defund the Obama healthcare reform law.

The healthcare tie will add a new wrinkle to Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) “adult” conversation with freshman members about the need to raise the limit despite their qualms about doing so. Boehner has said raising it should be tied to specific spending cuts but has not come out strongly behind tying it, or a 2011 spending bill, to defunding the Obama healthcare law.

King said that he plans to offer the amendment when the House next week considers the 2011 continuing resolution (CR) funding the government after March 4. He also wants the House to amend the CR so that a full $100 billion is cut from 2011 spending, rather than the $32 billion the leadership is now backing.

“I believe the things that happen in the CR, which comes before the debt ceiling vote, will predicate what I will do on the debt ceiling,” King said.
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This week's appropriations hearings are promised to be the first of “hundreds” with agency representatives and department heads.

Aide for Sen. Tom Harkin reportedly met with lobbyists to issue a "call to arms" to fight GOP spending cuts.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on Thursday said the GOP will seek to make the deepest cuts to funding for transportation, housing, agriculture and justice as it seeks to bring down spending for the rest of 2011.

Rogers said the appropriations subcommittees will be focusing on those areas in an attempt to meet a $1.055 trillion total spending ceiling that was set Thursday by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Rogers said an increase in Defense spending compared to 2010 levels will be allowed.

Members of Appropriations will in the coming days craft a continuing resolution to fund the government through Sept. 30, and Rogers announced individual spending ceilings for the 12 appropriations subcommittees as they set about drafting the bill. 

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House Republican leadership is looking to vote next week to cut either U.S. spending on the United Nations or on foreign aid, the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced Wednesday.

There are three options on the table posted at the GOP’s “You Cut” website. The public can vote for its preferred option, and Cantor has pledged to bring the winner to the floor for a vote.

The first option is surely to be the most controversial: it would forbid the U.S. from spending aid on any foreign country that holds more than $50 million in U.S. government debt. Cantor’s office states that the U.S. in 2010 provided $4.7 million for countries, like China, that hold more than that amount in U.S. treasuries.

The cut would save $46 million over 10 years, his office states.

The last two options involve seeking refunds from the United Nations for unspent contributions.

One option would order the U.S. to reclaim $180 million sitting in a U.N. tax equalization fund, which Cantor’s office says has not been repaid simply because the administration has not sought repayment.

The final option would demand repayment of funds left over from closed peacekeeping operations. This would recoup $86 million in funds that the U.N. has been seeking to keep for future expenses.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) announced Tuesday his panel would accept a two-year moratorium on earmarks.

Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Thursday introduced a bill that would end the automatic printing of every bill and resolution that is introduced. Currently, paper copies are printed and delivered to each member's office.