Outside the Beltway

Obama Says He’ll Veto “Cut, Cap, And Balance”

Doug Mataconis · Tuesday, July 19, 2011 · 2 comments

Not surprisingly, the White House announced yesterday that the President would veto the House GOP’s “Cut, Cap & Balance” plan if it came to his desk:

The White House on Monday warned President Obama will veto GOP legislation to “cut, cap and balance” spending and the budget.

In a statement of administration policy, the White House Office of Management and Budget labeled the GOP bill as an “empty political statement.”

The House Rules Committee is expected to take up the measure Monday, and it is likely to receive a floor vote on Tuesday. The measure would cut spending in fiscal 2012 by $111 billion, cap future spending at 19.9 percent of gross domestic product and allow for the debt ceiling to be increased if a balanced-budget amendment is approved by Congress and sent to the states.

The administration said the measure, which is not expected to move through the Senate, is unnecessary and unrealistic.

“Neither setting arbitrary spending levels nor amending the Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility,” the White House said in its statement. “Increasing the federal debt limit, which is needed to avoid a federal government default on its obligations and a severe blow to the economy, should not be conditioned on taking these actions. Instead of pursuing an empty political statement and unrealistic policy goals, it is necessary to move beyond politics as usual and find bipartisan common ground.”

Of course, there’s no danger that this bill will make it to the President’s desk. It will die on the Senate floor, if it even makes it to the floor. The vote today in the House is, as I said last week, nothing other than an effort to mollify the GOP base before the real deal, whatever it ends up being, comes up for a vote.