Hiccup for grand old party after US tax win
Clash over spending plan
REPUBLICAN euphoria over passage of a massive tax overhaul was tempered by a clash among GOP legislators over a stopgap spending plan to keep the government open.
House leaders released a plan late on Wednesday that would maintain funding for government operations until January 19 and delay cuts to defence and non-defence spending known as sequestration.
It includes extra funds for some Pentagon expenses and health programmes, as well as $2.85 billion (R36.21bn) to keep the children’s health insurance programme (Chip) running until March, with some conditions.
The government surveillance activities authorised by a section of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act would be reauthorised until just January 19, rather than the full reauthorisation sought by the Justice Department.
The last provision of the bill would waive the automatic cuts to some mandatory federal programmes, which would kick in because of the deficit impact of the tax overhaul passed this week.
That spending cut trigger is known as Paygo, for pay-asyou-go, and waiving it would make it easier for President Donald Trump to sign the tax legislation passed this week before the start of 2018.
A package of $81bnn to assist recovery from hurricanes and wildfires would get a vote as separate piece of legislation.
The House Rules Committee was scheduled to meet yesterday morning to get both the temporary spending measure and the disaster funds ready for a floor vote, which could come later in the day.
Senate leaders were waiting for action by the House before announcing their own plans. Both chambers have to pass the spending bill before midnight today to avert a partial government shutdown.
House speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders acted after objections from conservative Republicans to earlier plans by Senate leaders to use the spending bill also for reauthorising the children’s health insurance and surveillance programmes, providing money for the opioid crisis and legislation to stabilise Obamacare insurance markets.
There also weren’t enough votes in the Senate for fullyear funding for the Pentagon, which conservatives wanted, without lifting caps on domestic funding.
“I don’t understand. Do we take orders from the Senate here?” asked Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who is a member of the Freedom Caucus. “If they choose not to fund defence, I guess that’s up to them. Or if they have a better idea, why don’t they send us something?”
He said he and his fellow conservatives never agreed to wait around for the Senate to change the legislation and force the House to accept whatever they could pass with help from Democrats.
House speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders acted after objections from the conservatives.
Because of resistance in the House, Senate leaders already had kicked into next year legislation to stabilise Obamacare markets as well as any action on immigration.
On Wednesday Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, said he expected Congress to settle on a two-week extension of federal funding and deal with other issues in January, including lifting caps on spending for defence and domestic programmes.
Among the items being left until next year are two bipartisan measures designed to bring down Obamacare insurance premiums.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell promised Maine Senator Susan Collins action on those pieces of legislation to get her vote on the tax overhaul legislation that passed the Senate early on Wednesday. But a number or conservative Republicans in the House have said they won’t support the health insurance measure.
Democrats have their own list of demands. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that he wants more money to combat the opioid crisis plus enactment of the Chip and Obamacare health bills, disaster relief and protection against deportation for 800 000 young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers.”
The immigration plan may be one hurdle out of the way for now. Republican and Democratic senators working on an immigration deal say they are closing in on an agreement combining a border-security package with deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, though a final resolution would not come until January. – Bloomberg