Thread: Budget deal divides Hill Republicans

Budget deal divides Hill Republicans

By Manu Raju, Deirdre Walsh and Ted Barrett, CNN
Updated 9:26 PM ET, Mon October 26, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

(CNN) Congressional leaders and the White House reached a major deal Monday to avoid a potential fiscal calamity, but not before many Republicans were left fuming that their party leadership had given too much away to their Democratic adversaries.

The agreement, which would raise domestic and defense spending by $80 billion and lift the national borrowing limit until March 2017, could be voted on by the House as soon as Wednesday -- the same day the GOP is expected to nominate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, to replace retiring Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, as House speaker. The deal prompted a tense session among House Republicans Monday night in the basement of the Capitol.

The final details were still being ironed out late into the night Monday. But the deal was the product of weeks of negotiations led by Boehner, who is furiously trying to take the divisive fiscal issues off the plate for Ryan before his successor takes office. If the deal passes, Ryan could have a clear path to do his job without the fiscal brinksmanship that damaged Boehner's speakership.

Still, the private talks and the frantic effort to push the measure into law only prompted sharp criticism from many House and Senate Republicans, who contended that Boehner gave away too much in the name of getting a deal.

Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, strongly objected to the deal and for not having more input.

"We're not just here to take commands," Amash said. "People back home expect us to participate in the process. I hope that Paul Ryan will let us know how he feels about the process."

Ryan, who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, deliberately took a low profile and refused to weigh in on the deal, declining to comment to reporters and not saying a word about it during a private meeting with fellow House Republicans.

At that meeting, however, the tension was rife.

Louisiana Republican Rep. John Fleming told reporters Boehner essentially "threw committee chairmen under the bus" and suggested this big deal was being dropped on members now because the committees failed to do their work.

But, in Fleming's telling, House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Georgia, pushed back, saying that he was in fact working on fiscal reforms but was told by leadership to stand down.

Roughly 10 House conservatives got up and complained in the meeting about the process of cutting a major deal and rushing it to the floor without going through regular order, lawmakers said.

Rep. Walter Jones, a conservative from North Carolina, said he still was waiting on the details -- but added that he "would not be blackmailed" into voting for a debt limit increase.

Across the Capitol, the complaints were just as sharp.

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said, "It's too early to tell (but) I'm leaning no" on the budget deal.

"I'm not necessarily in a position where I think it's in the best interest of our country," he said.

Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn, the No. 2 in his conference, added: "It's a mixed bag, there is no question about it. I don't think you'll hear anybody popping any champagne corks."

While there is consternation in the ranks, many expect there will still be ample support from Democrats -- and a large enough number of Republicans -- to pass the deal later this week. That's largely because the bill would increase defense spending to alleviate the pain felt by across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, enough to win the backing of the sizable number of GOP defense hawks.

But Sen. John McCain says he will support the deal, even though it is $5 billion short on defense funding in 2016 and more than that in 2017.

"I think it is saleable," he told reporters after leaving a Senate GOP Conference meeting.

The product was the result of weeks of negotiations between Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. The bill would raise spending caps by $80 billion -- $50 billion in the first year and $30 billion in the second year -- divided equally between defense and domestic programs.

Even though Ryan's fingerprints aren't on the deal -- a deliberate move by the presumptive speaker and Boehner -- the framework of the agreement is very similar to the two-year budget deal he crafted in 2013 when he chaired the budget panel with his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.

The new spending under the accord would be offset by sales from the strategic petroleum oil reserve, use of public airwaves for telecommunications companies and changes to the crop insurance program — among other measures.

Moreover, the deal would spread out increases in Medicare premiums over time so beneficiaries don't feel them acutely. It would also overhaul the Social Security disability trust fund in an attempt to prevent a 20 percent reduction in cuts to benefits.

The plan includes more money for the Pentagon's overseas contingency account, and it would repeal a provision in Obamacare forcing workers to automatically enroll in employer-sponsored health care.

Despite the GOP concerns, if Pelosi agrees to back the package, and Boehner can deliver a large segment of his conference, it could be enough to overcome opposition from conservative factions.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, said that "big broad strokes" were presented to members Monday night "that all sounded wonderful and maybe even too good to be true."

Indeed, many GOP lawmakers in both sides of the Capitol were disappointed that party leaders couldn't get more from the White House by making such a huge concession -- to raise the national debt limit for longer than a year -- especially since this issue has been so contentious during Boehner's nearly five years as speaker.

"I have some concerns," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. "You hope that in a debt limit context that you actually reduce spending. That's the idea to -- as you raise the debt limit, deal with the underlying debt crisis that we have."

But the deal may ultimately pass because lawmakers realize they have little choice as they stare at a potential default next week.

"It's better than no deal at all," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/26/politi...ill/index.html

Speaker Boehner's Last Deal: 2-Year Budget, Debt Ceiling

• By ANDREW TAYLOR AND ERICA WERNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Oct 26, 2015, 9:21 PM ET

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ABCNews.com

WATCH John Boehner's Resignation Sends Shockwave Through DC

Speaker John Boehner is making one final appeal to restive Republicans: Pass a hard-won agreement with President Barack Obama to fund the government and forestall a debt crisis before Rep.Paul Ryan assumes the top job later this week. But he encountered immediate resistance when he laid out the plan Monday night.

The budget pact, in concert with a must-pass increase in the federal borrowing limit, would solve the thorniest issues awaiting Ryan, R-Wis., who is set to be elected speaker on Thursday. It would also take budget showdowns and government shutdown fights off the table until after the 2016 presidential election, a potential boon to Republican candidates who might otherwise face uncomfortable questions about messes in the GOP-led Congress.

Congress must raise the federal borrowing limit by Nov. 3 or risk a first-ever default, while money to pay for government operations runs out Dec. 11 unless Congress acts. The emerging framework would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies two years of budget relief of $80 billion in exchange for cuts elsewhere in the budget.

Outlined for rank-and-file Republicans in a closed-door session Monday night, the budget relief would total $50 billion in the first year and $30 billion in the second year.

"Let's declare success," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told Republicans, according to Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., as the leadership sought to rally support for the emerging deal.

Conservatives in the conference who drove Boehner to resign were not ready to fall in line. But a chief selling point for GOP leaders is that the alternative is chaos and a stand-alone debt limit increase that might be forced on Republicans.

"This is again just the umpteenth time that you have this big, big, huge deal that'll last for two years and we were told nothing about it," said Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana.

"I'm not excited about it at all," said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz.

"A two-year budget deal that raises the debt ceiling for basically the entire term of this presidency."

Negotiators hoped to officially file the legislation Monday night.

The measure under discussion would suspend the current $18.1 trillion debt limit through March 2017.

The budget side of the deal is aimed at undoing automatic spending cuts which are a byproduct of a 2011 budget and debt deal and the failure of Washington to subsequently tackle the government's fiscal woes. GOP defense hawks are a driving force, intent on reversing the automatic cuts and getting more money for the military.

The focus is on setting a new overall spending limit for agencies whose operating budgets are set by Congress each year. It will be up to the House and Senate Appropriations committees to produce a detailed omnibus spending bill by the Dec. 11 deadline.

The tentative pact anticipates designating further increases for the Pentagon as emergency war funds that can be made exempt from budget caps. Offsetting spending cuts that would pay for domestic spending increases included reforms to the Agriculture Department's crop insurance program, curbing certain Medicare payments for outpatient services provided by hospitals and extending a 2 percentage point cut in Medicare payments to doctors through the end of a 10-year budget.

Negotiators looked to address two other key issues as well: a shortfall looming next year in Social Security payments to the disabled and a large increase for many retirees in Medicare premiums and deductibles for doctors' visits and other outpatient care.

The deal, which would apply to the 2016-2017 budget years, resembles a pact that Ryan himself put together two years ago in concert with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that eased automatic spending cuts for the 2014-15 budget years. A lot of conservatives disliked that measure.

"It is past time that we do away with the harmful, draconian sequester cuts," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "We must also ensure that there are equal defense and nondefense increases."

Just days are left for the deal to come together before Ryan is elected on Thursday to replace Boehner, R-Ohio, who is leaving Congress under pressure from conservative lawmakers angered by his history of seeking compromise and Democratic votes on issues like the budget.

The deal would make good on a promise Boehner made in the days after announcing his surprise resignation from Congress last month. He said at the time: "I don't want to leave my successor a dirty barn. I want to clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets there."

Some of the more moderate Republican members welcomed the emerging deal and applauded Boehner.

"The outline that was presented seems like a path forward," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. "He said he was going to try to clean the barn and this is a good start."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireS...house-34737739