No January Spending Cut Bill From House GOP

Thanks in part to the one week delay caused by the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, it looks like the House GOP will not be able to deliver a spending cut bill this month as promised:

House Republicans are falling behind in their aggressive schedule and are unlikely to consider a major spending-cut bill this month.

The GOP had hoped to hold a floor vote by late January on legislation rescinding already appropriated funds in the stimulus and other legislation, but it is now more likely that the rescission package will be folded into a measure to keep the government funded beyond March.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services, indicated the rescission bill is likely to be finished closer to the March 4 expiration of the continuing resolution funding the government.

The schedule is slipping for more than one reason, according to Republican lawmakers and conservative analysts.

Emerson said part of the delay has been due to the Jan. 8 attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), which led Republican leaders to postpone previously scheduled floor action for a full week.

Emerson’s subcommittee met for the first time last week to begin identifying cuts. “Obviously we have to get our work done by March 4,” she said.

The January rescissions package plan also was formulated when Republicans assumed that Democrats would fully fund fiscal 2011 by approving a long-term appropriations bill in the lame-duck session in December, said Brian Riedl of The Heritage Foundation. Instead, Democrats approved a short-term continuing resolution, which didn’t give Republicans a spending vehicle from which to make rescissions.

Though some Republicans would still like to move a package sooner, Reidl agreed the first major spending-cut bill is likely to move toward the end of February or early March.

Governing is harder than they thought, apparently.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Bob in Zion says:

    Or, they did the right thing and took the break, to avoid talking heads and pundits calling them heartless bastards for failing to properly observe a tragedy.

  2. Only 23 more excuses about why the GOP can’t possibly cut spending this month until the 2012 elections!

  3. michael reynolds says:

    What Stormy said.

    It’s a dog and pony show from here on out. The GOP doesn’t have the balls to seriously cut spending. So we’ll get the usual nonsense. (Look out you ballet troupes out there!) First a phony symbolic vote on health care, then they’ll slink away from the reforms they promised, and they’ll propose another tax cut for rich people and an increase in defense and homeland security spending. Finally they’ll cast about for some hot-button but utterly meaningless issue they can use to get the yahoos worked up.

    Sorry, I hope I’m not spoiling it for anyone. I’ve already seen this movie.

  4. tom p says:

    >>>>Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services<<<<<

    My congress woman… I intend to hold her feet to the fire… don't let me off easy.

  5. Steve Plunk says:

    Patience. Critics have no patience. The GOP can hardly balance the budget overnight without the Senate and White House. It seems those who oppose the Republicans ask more of them than their supporters. If they merely start changing the culture of Washington it is a victory.

  6. c.red says:

    I’d probably take advantage of my first legitimate excuse too if i’d been sodging a question as hard as congressional republicans have been the budget for the last six months.

  7. If they merely start changing the culture of Washington it is a victory.

    Translation: Republicans don’t have to actually cut spending or reduce the deficit, they just have to spend a lot of talking about how much they want to.

  8. Axel Edgren says:

    You can’t change the culture of an organization until you shift the structure. The bluster and talk from the GOP is not enough, in the same sense that babbling about Darfur and being *real angry and disapproving* didn’t stop the atrocities.

    Remember when W clicked his heels three times and said terrorism over and over? that settled that problem didn’t it?

  9. tom p says:

    >>>The GOP can hardly balance the budget overnight without the Senate and White House. <<<

    If you had just stopped at "budget", your statement would have been a lot more accurate Steve.

  10. anjin-san says:

    > Or, they did the right thing and took the break, to avoid talking heads and pundits calling them heartless bastards for failing to properly observe a tragedy.

    You are actually going to hide behind Giffords hospital bed? You have to be joking…

  11. An Interested Party says:

    “You are actually going to hide behind Giffords hospital bed?”

    This is hardly surprising…Republicans have painted themselves into a corner…they talk a good game about fiscal responsibility but know that they can’t really do anything about it without hurting themselves…by taking tax hikes off the table, the only way they can even try to “balance” the budget is to make painful cuts to popular programs that a lot of people depend on…these Tea Party types really should start their own party, as they will never get any satisfaction from the GOP…