Budget

Paul Ryan responded that the rule is necessary because Democrats failed to pass a budget resolution last year.

A proposed House rule granting new powers to the GOP chairman of the Budget Committee has sparked outrage from Democrats.

The Capitol Police force could still face a cash crisis later if Congress fails to act.

The DCCC called GOP Rep. David Schweikert "fiscally reckless" based on an audit of his time as a county treasurer.

President Obama will delay the release of his annual budget proposal by about a week, an administration official confirmed Monday.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told reporters that if no other Republican serious about tackling the national debt emerges in the 2012 presidential race, he might throw his hat into the ring.

Senate Republicans' "Dr. No" spending hawk warned Sunday that America could experience between 15 percent and 18 percent unemployment.

House Republicans are proposing extensive rules changes to the budget and appropriations processes next year which they believe will help rein in runaway spending.

The rules package was released Dec. 22 and will be voted on Jan. 5 by the entire House.

It expands the current pay-as-you-go rule in the House to a “cut-go” requirement under which any bill increasing mandatory spending over one, five or 10 years cannot be considered on the floor. The rules change was blasted by incoming Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Vollen (D-Md.) who said it would allow new tax breaks for "special interests and millionaires" to be enacted without being offset.

A House aide said the change would prevent revenue increases from being used to pay for new spending in the 112th Congress. To address spending that appears offset in the first 10 years, but balloons in the out years, the rules contain a provision forbidding consideration of new mandatory spending measures that increase spending above $5 billion within 40 years. 

Like "pay-go," "cut-go" does not apply to discetionary funding under annual appropriations bills, just to mandatory spending which once enacted is on auto-pilot. Pay-go however required points of order to tax cuts that were no accompanied by spending cuts, something absent in the new cut-go approach.

For discertinary appropriations spending, the rules package would create a “spending reduction” account in each general appropriations bill where savings from cuts in the bill can be stored. It is up to the member proposing the cut to place the savings in the account, however, causing some sources to question its effectiveness. Other members are not allowed to remove the funds from the account for their own pet projects however as has been common in the past.

A House aide explained that, in the past, cuts to specific programs were generally in name only, because the overall spending in the bill would remain constant. The rule would ensure that money in the spending account never comes out of the Treasury.

It would also prohibit a budget resolution or budget amendment that increases direct spending.

A key budget provision will force a separate vote to raise the nation’s debt level by eliminating the so-called “Gephardt rule,” which allowed passage of a budget resolution to function as a vote to raise the limit on spending levels authorized in the budget resolution.

The $14.3 trillion debt limit is expected to be reached as early as February, at which point a separate vote will be required.

The rules also contain a provision designed to allow the House to repeal President Obama’s healthcare reform without facing a point of order on the House floor because doing so would increase the deficit, a House aide explained. The healthcare reform bill contained revenue increases that narrowed the deficit.

The provision would allow the Budget Committee to “make appropriate budget adjustments” prior to the adoption of a fiscal 2012 budget resolution to account for repeal. House Republicans plan to vote in January on repeal.

Other changes in the rules allow the House to govern spending prior to the adoption of the budget resolution, something made problematic by the fact that Congress did not adopt a fiscal 2011 budget resolution for the first time since the 1970s. 

Brookings Institution scholar Michael O’Hanlon argued at a Wednesday event that Congress should put the defense budget on the table as it tries to reduce the deficit.

O'Hanlon argued the Pentagon would be able to sustain a 10 percent cut to its budget without threatening national security.

He would make the cut by reducing the overall U.S. troop level by 15 percent after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over, effectively reversing the force increase since the 1990s. He would also reduce spending on weapons modernization. 

O’Hanlon's plan relies more heavily on troop reduction and less on reducing the procurement of weapons than the plan put forth by President Obama’s debt commission. The deficit panel's plan would cut procurement by 15 percent.

The House cleared legislation Tuesday that will require federal agencies to identify overlapping programs and do quarterly evaluations of government spending.

The House Blue Dog Coalition touted passing of the measure as part of its blueprint to improve government accountability and reduce waste in government spending. 

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) led the House charge on the bill while several Democrats Sens. Tom Carper (Del.), Mark Warner (Va.) and Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) urged passage of the bill in the upper chamber. 

“No one can afford to waste money, especially not the government and especially not now,” Cuellar said. “It’s time that we put a new system in place to review the results of each federal program and evaluate its effectiveness."