Budget

The large group of freshman House Republicans is facing tremendous pressure over an impending vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling, according to libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). 

Paul — who opposes raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling — predicted that the majority of new Republicans would be convinced to vote to lift it when it comes up this spring.

"It won't take them very long to be unhappy. That's why the real test is going to be those 80-some new members and how they are going to vote," he said during an interview on Fox Business Network posted Monday. "And I [expect] they're going to be talked into it — the majority will be talked into it — because they are going to get some promise they are going to cut back."

The debt ceiling vote is expected to be one of the first major tests of the relationship between Republican leaders who control the House and a large swath of new members who helped them obtain the majority in the November midterm elections. 

With 84 of the 242-member House GOP conference being freshmen, the bloc could wield considerable influence over the direction of the 112th Congress.

While riding a wave of Tea Party support to victory, several members of the freshman class have said they oppose raising the debt ceiling over concerns about high spending and the national debt.

But leaders in Congress and the Obama White House have said that raising the ceiling is a must, arguing it will signal to foreign creditors that the U.S. can meet its obligations. 

The House has suspended votes this week in the aftermath of the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D).

If Congress is serious about wanting to cut spending, there is no better place to start than with the Pentagon, according to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Kucinich called for an end to "waste and unnecessary spending" in the defense budget in an interview on the Fox Business Network.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is optimistic the administration and congressional Republicans can work together to bring down spending and revamp the tax code, according to a recent interview.

"If we're going to get anything done, we'll have to work together," he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" airing this weekend.

The Senate minority whip said he believes there is a general agreement that government spending needs to come down and that the overcomplicated tax code is in need of a makeover.

Activist Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform has drafted the plan and plans on sending it to every lawmaker.

As House Republicans seek upwards of $100 billion in spending cuts, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Friday that her staff has found about $450 billion to slash from the federal budget — about half of all discretionary spending. 

"My staff and I sat down, we've looked at the federal budget, and just our first swipe across the budget, so to speak, we've come up with about $450 billion worth of cuts,” she said on ABC’s "Top Line."

She didn't outline specific cuts but said each federal agency would see its budget trimmed. 

"They aren't painless, they do require sacrifice, but it’s from every level; from Commerce to Agriculture to Defense, you name the area of the budget, we've gone in to look at it," she said. "Because I don't like the idea of just across-the-board cuts, because if there are people getting oxygen masks to stay alive, I don't want to cut that budget."

Discretionary spending makes up about one-third of the entire federal budget, slightly more than $1 trillion.

“But on the other hand, if there is money set aside for trips for bureaucrats to go and have a retreat somewhere, that's something that we can cut. So we're trying to be picking and choosing with priorities.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday that he still wants to cut about $60 billion in spending through fiscal year 2011 and potentially $100 billion through 2012. 

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said at a National Press Club event Thursday that Congress will have no choice but to raise the ceiling on the nation’s debt in the spring because the alternative is too dire.

“Just refusing to vote for it, I don’t think that’s really a strategy,” Ryan said. "Obviously you can't default."

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he still intends to cut $100 billion in spending this year even as time ticks away. 

Ryan, who with other House Republicans has vowed to slash federal spending to fiscal 2008 levels, said the initial estimate of $100 billion in savings has dropped to between $50 billion and $60 billion because of money that has been spent since the fiscal year started Oct. 1.

Several Republicans have said they still want to cut the $100 billion but are finding that time is tight if any changes are to be made before the continuing resolution that keeps the government running expires March 4. 

"So let me just say this. We're going to cut way more than $100 billion when this is all said and done," Ryan told Neil Cavuto Thursday on Fox Business Network.

"So for the rest of this fiscal year, we're going to go back to the '08 level where you think of the same policy, the same number we've always been talking about," Ryan reiterated. 

When it's time to put together the fiscal 2012 budget, "we're going to be cutting," Ryan said. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told NBC's Brian Williams in an interview that aired Thursday night that he didn't have any specific spending cuts in mind. During a short discussion, Boehner told Williams that he didn't consider either the Defense or Homeland Security budgets sacred. 

That led Williams to ask for a specific program right now that the U.S. could do without.

"I don't think I have one off the top of my head," Boehner told Williams. "But there is no part of this government that should be sacred." 

The House on Thursday easily passed, 410-13, a bill to cut about $35 million from congressional office budgets this year. 

All 13 opposed to the bill were Democrats — Gary Ackerman (N.Y.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), John Conyers (Mich.), Keith Ellison (Minn.), Bob Filner (Calif.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.), Jim Moran (Va.), Donald Payne (N.J.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Eldolphus Towns (N.Y.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.).

The measure will reduce office budgets by 5 percent while implementing a 9 percent cut for the House Appropriations Committee, a panel that will play a major role in finding ways to reduce spending in the Republican-controlled House.

"This year, the Appropriations Committee will be ground zero for a wide range of reductions across the federal government, and by cutting our own budget first, we are showing we’re willing to lead by example," Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said on the floor before the vote. 

The House is expected to pass on Thursday afternoon a bill that will cut about $35 million from congressional office budgets this year. 

As part of the House rules package approved on Wednesday, the House will take up the measure to reduce office budgets by 5 percent while implementing a 9 percent cut for the House Appropriations Committee, a panel that will play a major role in finding ways to reduce spending in the Republican-controlled House.

"Leaders need to lead and this place is bloated," bill sponsor Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said Thursday morning on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal."

The bill cuts $1 million from all House leadership offices, $8.1 million from committee budgets and a total of $26.1 million for members' offices, for a total of $35.2 million, according to the bill.

In a letter to Congress, Geithner warns failing to raise the debt ceiling would be "deeply irresponsible."