Congress’ agenda balances funding shortfall, hurricane
On Friday, President Donald Trump signaled he wasn’t willing to shut down the federal government in a budget battle over the southern border wall he wants. It ended a bit of the drama in Washington at a time when Congress is overflowing with things to do.
The House of Representatives, the Senate and the president still face critical matters, such as raising the government’s spending authority and passing a budget — or at least another stopgap spending plan. And Republican lawmakers still want to press ahead with historic tax reforms.
But Mother Nature has moved federal aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey to the front of the legislative to-do list.
Interviews with a sampling of Arizona’s congressional delegation suggest lawmakers are tempering their goals in light of the critical needs, especially given their struggles to work together or accomplish much legislatively. The current schedule has the House in session for 12 days in September.
Funding the government
U.S. Reps. David Schweikert, Andy Biggs and Kyrsten Sinema, two Republicans and a Democrat, respectively, agreed that the government must avoid a potentially devastating default by raising its spending limits, known as the debt ceiling.
They also agree Congress will pass a continuation of current spending, though it was unclear whether that would last weeks or months past the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.
The House has passed four of the 12 spending bills that comprise the overall budget. The Senate hasn’t passed any of them, and negotiated changes are expected to require more time than Congress currently has.
Schweikert noted that the House Appropriations Committee has passed all 12 of the spending bills out of its group. Besides, “the vast, vast, vast majority of our budget is mandatory spending,” he said.
“So, they’re teed up and ready to go,” Schweikert said.
Even so, the narrowly divided Senate is likely to eventually pass different spending plans that will need to be hammered out in a conference that will take more time.
Raising the debt ceiling
The debt ceiling is probably more harrowing.
The government is expected to run out of cash to keep funding its needs between Sept. 29 and mid-October. Without authorizing more borrowing, the government would go into default, something that many fear could touch off chaos in the financial markets.
Republicans like Schweikert and Biggs are willing to raise the spending limit in the near term, but want to ensure government is moving toward lowering its longer-term spending by tying their approval to debt-management provisions.
Schweikert, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he also would like to examine sweeping federal funds that have been appropriated but not authorized by various agencies.
“I’m talking, like, $900 billion,” he said. The complication is “how much is cash and how much is paperwork entries.”
Biggs said he wants to see spending as a share of the overall economy fall from nearly 22 percent back to its more customary 18 percent.
“At least, let’s build a glide path to 18 percent,” he said.
Democrats like Sinema generally want to avoid default by raising the debt ceiling and taking up longer-term spending separately.
“That’s what it should be,” Sinema said. Congress needs a firm deadline, she said, forcing it to put together a deal that can’t be dragged out. “You know they are going to wait until the last day . ... We’re not going to go into default.”
All three Arizona members predicted a deal, but probably only as the deadline is closer.
Tax reform?
Schweikert said he still thinks tax reforms — a mix of rate cuts for corporations and individuals mixed with streamlined deductions and other provisions intended to boost growth — will happen this year. Biggs also remains hopeful.
Sinema, who is eager for some tax changes as well, is less optimistic about anything on that front happening this year.
“I’m very interested in tax reform,” she said. “Right now, unfortunately, there is not a bipartisan effort on tax reform. The administration has chosen, at least in this Round 1, to use a Republicanonly strategy . ... That may fall apart.”
Harvey aid
Members seem to agree that Harvey aid is a top priority, though as the August recess wound down, it wasn’t clear how many billions of dollars it would cost. The Trump administration has asked for $7.9 billion in initial aid.
Biggs acknowledged the need for action in Texas and said he wasn’t ready to set conditions on what that aid should look like.
Like three other Republicans in Arizona’s delegation, Biggs is a member of the House Freedom Caucus that has battled “blank check” spending. For now, however, members seem united in the idea that Harvey relief cannot be debated for long.
“How do you offset a natural emergency?” Sinema said.
She agrees help is needed and suggested that it will probably be done in two phases. The first is money that must go out immediately for emergency management. The second is help for rebuilding that will take years to spend, a prospect that presumably gives some greater time to shape.