Ahead of shutdown deadline, Democrats face a dilemma on spending

Boston Globe

3 days ago

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Republicans pushed through legislation this month
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'It is no secret the path to advancing more of our bills is going to be harder because of the unprecedented, partisan rescissions bill that Republicans just passed,' said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. 'It is extremely frustrating to see so many of the colleagues that have worked with us to pass funding bills turn around and vote to rip away the funding that we all agreed on.'
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Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters recently that the appropriations process 'has to be less bipartisan,' infuriating Democrats who said the comment poisoned the well as they worked with Republicans to put together spending bills.
Because those bills must pass to keep the government running, spending deals have historically been bipartisan products that can draw enough support to clear a Senate filibuster, forcing lawmakers in both parties to set aside their most incendiary proposals and broker a compromise.
In a blowout 90-8 vote this week, most Senate Democrats voted to open floor debate on the chamber's first spending bill of the year, a typically less contentious measure covering military construction projects and veterans programs. Some other less divisive bills could potentially be added to the package.
But Democrats are keeping a close eye on Republicans and the White House. In a sign of their wariness about the coming funding fight, House and Senate Democratic leaders and senior Democratic members of the Appropriations Committee from both chambers met privately in Schumer's office this week to plot and make sure they were on the same page.
For now, Democrats appear ready to let the process play out.
Murray called some of the initial spending bills advancing through the Senate 'solid, compromise bills that reject the truly draconian cuts proposed by President Trump and House Republicans.'
'No one wants a shutdown, and the way we avoid that shutdown is by working together,' she said.
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A major priority for Democrats is winning assurances from Senate Republicans that they will not again agree to allow the Trump administration to cancel spending after Congress approves the bills. Without some commitment in place, Democrats say it is uncertain whether they can back the spending measures.
'It is not clear to me there is a way to get over that hurdle,' said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Appropriations Committee.
At the same time, House Republicans are advancing funding bills setting drastically lower spending levels than their counterparts in the Senate. Republicans on the Appropriations Committee in that chamber this week approved a spending bill that would slash the budget for foreign aid and the State Department by 22%.
Still, some conservatives in the House have complained the spending bills they are advancing do not do enough to cut spending. The foreign aid bill provided billions more for some international programs than the president had requested, and rejected his calls to gut global broadcasting initiatives.
'I like the president's budget; I think he did a good job with it,' said Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, a Republican on the appropriations panel. 'I think we should hold to those levels.'
House Republicans on the committee also voted to strip out a provision they had included in the measure that would have made it more difficult for the White House to cancel spending in the future.
With a potential funding impasse coming this fall, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the majority leader, has already begun the political effort to pin the blame on Democrats if the government shuts down. Thune, who has pledged to bring spending bills to the floor after Democrats refused to do so in recent years, shrugged off Democratic worries over the administration cuts.
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'The Democrats have indicated, because they're so upset over the rescissions bill last week -- which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1% of all federal spending -- that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government,' he said. 'We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us.'
This article originally appeared in
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