Opposition to the outcome of yesterdays House Budget Committee markup started small and is growing significantly among House Republicans. The opposition began with a small group of Republican Study Committee leaders, including Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Jeb Hensarling (R-TX). The Republican Study Committee is a House caucus of over ninety conservatives.
Their opposition, which according to this article in The Hill has spread to over forty Republican representatives, is based in the fact that the leadership’s plan is “unenforceable because it does nothing to curtail House leaders' power to waive budget rules for legislation that violates the budget.” The Republican leadership – and especially Budget Committee Chairman Nussle (R-IA) – are worried these “rebels” will vote with the Democrats against the budget when it is brought to the floor next Wednesday. The RSC leaders have the support of many members of the “Tuesday Group,” which is a caucus of about thirty centrist House members. The Tuesday Group is chaired by Reps. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Charles Bass (N.H.). Their coalition with the RSC is significant because together the membership of the two groups total nearly 120 GOP lawmakers. Their opposition to the budget blueprint put forth by Nussle has significantly spread beyond a few conservative leaders and members of the Budget Committee in the past two days, and is showing that the leadership’s insistence on unwavering support for the Chairman’s Mark have had little effect.
Senate Republicans have also apparently been expressing concern about the budget proposals ahead of them. Today’s New York Times, reports, “the budget was not enough to mollify some Senate Republican moderates, who expressed concern Wednesday about extending the tax cuts at a time when the deficit is at a record high and domestic programs from farm subsidies to veterans' benefits and education are facing steep cuts.” Last year recall that a few key Senators – Voinovich (R-OH), Collins, (R-ME), Chafee (R-RI), and McCain (R-AZ) – were extremely outspoken in their opposition to budget policies which they did not feel were fiscally responsible.
With this year’s budget, Chafee has said, “I've been consistently opposed to tax cuts when at the same time we're not controlling our spending, and I don't think this year will be any different.” Another Senator wary of fiscal irresponsibility, Snowe (R-ME), has said, “Suffice it to say, I do have serious concerns with the fundamental priorities that are being constructed in the budget. It's exacting a high price from some of the programs that are critically important to the future." Senator Coleman (R-MN) is yet another Senator opposed to the budget proposal; however he is opposed more to specific cuts laid out in the budget instead of the costly tax cut proposals. Coleman has gathered signatures of 57 senators to fight for urban renewal grants, which Bush has proposed to cut.
The battle over the budget in the Senate will prove to be very interesting. Republicans have 55 votes in the Senate, which is four more than they would need to pass the budget if everyone voted on party lines. Past budget battles have resulted in Congress being unable to adopt a budget blueprint in two of the last three years; another failure to do this would reflect badly on both the President -- who has been lately stressing the importance of fiscal responsibility -- and Congressional GOP leaders as well.
