With about a week left before the latest continuing resolution on federal government spending expires, Congress is nowhere near a budget deal for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. Yesterday the U.S. Senate rejected both a House bill that would cut about $61 billion in spending and an alternative favored by most Democratic senators, which would cut only a few billion in spending before September 30. H.R. 1, the House Republicans’ bill, received 44 yes votes and 56 no votes (roll call). All Democrats voted against the House proposal; the three Republicans who joined them rejected it because in their view, it did not cut federal spending deeply enough. A Democratic amendment offered by Senator Daniel Inouye failed by a wider margin, 42 to 58 (roll call). Eleven Democrats joined all Senate Republicans in rejecting that proposal.
After the jump I’ve posted statements on yesterday’s votes from Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin. Grassley voted for the House Republican proposal and against Inouye’s amendment, while Harkin voted the opposite way.
Today Senate Democratic leaders called on House Republicans to compromise:
“The lesson that Sen. Reid was referring to, the lesson that we’re all referring to, is that H.R. 1 can’t pass, and if you insist on H.R. 1 we’re going to be gridlocked, so give us some alternatives,” [Senator Chuck Schumer] added, in reference to the package of House-passed spending cuts.
Schumer accused Republicans of intransigence and said Boehner must come forward with a new proposal for fiscal 2011 spending levels to avert a government shutdown.
“We are now asking Speaker Boehner to go talk to his 89 freshmen who seem to say they just want H.R. 1 or nothing, show them that that can’t happened and come back and say ‘what are you willing to put on the table,’ ” he said.
Schumer later corrected himself to note there are 87 Republican freshmen in the House.
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters today,
“I think it’s time for them to get serious – and they’re not serious, and it’s time to get serious about cutting spending, and the talks are going to continue but they aren’t going to get very far if they don’t get serious about doing what the American people expect them to do,” Boehner told reporters.
House Republicans are now working on a new three-week continuing resolution, which would cut about $6 billion in current-year spending. It needs to pass by March 18 to avoid a federal government shutdown. Four of Iowa’s five House representatives voted for the last continuing resolution; Steve King rejected it “because some of ObamaCare is funded by it and the Pence amendment to block Planned Parenthood is not in.”
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Reporters and Editors
RE: Senate votes on spending bills
DA: Wednesday, March 9, 2011Senator Chuck Grassley issued the comment below about the Senate budget votes today. Grassley voted for the House-passed proposal. It was defeated in the Senate by a vote of 44 to 56. He voted against the substitute offered by the Senate Democratic leadership. It was defeated by a vote of 42 to 58. Both measures needed 60 votes to pass. Grassley is a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Grassley comment:
“Today’s votes emphasize that there are no more excuses for the Senate Majority Leader. His proposal for a mere $4.7 billion in spending reductions is clearly not credible. It’s time for the majority party in the Senate to get real about the federal budget and lead an effort to pass meaningful spending reductions. The $61 billion in cuts adopted by the House comes from government spending programs that saw a 24 percent increase from 2008 to 2010. What’s more, $61 billion is just 1/25th of this year’s $1.5 trillion federal deficit. Forty cents of every dollar spent in Washington today is borrowed. The Senate needs to do its part in responding to the clear message from voters last November. Washington can’t continue to spend money it doesn’t have, at the expense of future generations.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2011Harkin Statement on the Budget Proposals Considered by the U.S. Senate Today
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement on the budget proposals considered by the U.S. Senate today. Harkin is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and chairman of its labor, health and education subcommittee. He is also Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
“The contrast between these two proposals could not have been starker. The House budget embodies the Republican approach to reducing deficits: one that is recklessly driven by ideology. In fact, it holds the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to be sacred, while taking a meat ax to essential parts of the budget – everything from cancer research to education to safety net programs for our most vulnerable citizens.
“Economists agree that this proposal will kill jobs. With nine percent unemployment and a fragile economy, why in the world would we pass a bill that we know will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs? The Senate rightly rejected the House proposal.
“But the Democratic proposal offered a reasonable approach to budgeting – one that reduces the deficit without crippling our economic recovery, without slashing funding for priorities such as education or unfairly targeting the most vulnerable. I supported this effort because of its balanced approach.
“As the two chambers work out the details of another funding proposal, my hope is that this same spirit of balance in budgeting will prevail and any new outline includes spending cuts and necessary revenue increases, while making room for critical investments in education, job training, infrastructure, and research – things that are essential for jobs now and for economic expansion and job creation in the years ahead.”
Senator Harkin’s office compiled various analysis pieces on the impact of the House budget proposal on Iowa. A compilation can be found here.