Trump plans to cut $15 bn in spending squeaks through House

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives to deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress inside the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Win McNamee/Pool - HP1EE1V06J5S3

The House has only narrowly passed a White House plan to cut almost USD 15 billion in unused government money, a closer-than-expected tally on legislation that's designed to demonstrate fiscal discipline in Washington even though it wouldn't have much of an impact on spiraling deficits.

The measure, which passed 210-206, would take a mostly symbolic whack at government spending because it would basically eliminate leftover funding that wouldn't have been spent anyway. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces long odds.

The package of so-called rescissions has been embraced by GOP conservatives upset by passage in March of a USD 1.3 trillion catchall spending bill that they say was too bloated.

More pragmatic Republicans on Capitol Hill's powerful Appropriations panels aren't keen on the measure since it would eliminate accounting tricks they routinely use to pay for spending elsewhere.

The measure includes USD 4 billion in cuts to a defunct loan program designed to boost fuel-efficient, advanced-technology vehicles, rescissions of various agriculture grant programs, and cuts to conservation programs at the Department of Agriculture, among others.

While Democrats blasted the cuts, the real objection to some of them, such as USD 7 billion from popular Children's Health Insurance Program funding, is that it would take that money off the table so it couldn't be used later as it was in the earlier spending bill. The CHIP cuts wouldn't affect enrollment in the program, which provides health care to children from low-income families that don't qualify for Medicaid.

"Targeting CHIP for a rescission prevents Congress from reinvesting in other priorities like child and maternal health, early childhood education, biomedical research and our community health centers," said New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

Some GOP moderates also worry that they're casting a difficult-to-explain vote to cut CHIP funding in the run-up to November's midterm elections.

"I don't think the vote's intended for people in swing districts," said Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office weighed in yesterday to estimate that the measure — pushed largely by White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and No. 2 House Republican Kevin McCarthy of California — would only cut the deficit by USD 1.1 billion over the coming decade. That's because most of the cuts wouldn't affect the deficit at all since CBO doesn't give deficit credit for cutting money that would never have been spent.

Trump proposed the measure last month, but it was slow to come to a vote because some Republicans came out against it.

The White House submitted a revised package of cuts Tuesday, removing politically troublesome proposals to cut money to fight Ebola funds and to rebuild watersheds damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Trump weighed in soon after to urge Republicans to pass the plan.

It's still unclear whether it will pass in the Senate, where pragmatic-minded Republicans are focusing on trying to get the troubled process for handling annual appropriations back on track on a bipartisan basis.

The White House and tea party lawmakers upset by the budget-busting "omnibus" bill have rallied around the plan, aiming to show that Republicans are taking on out-of-control spending.

"If this body cannot be trusted to reclaim money that will not or cannot be used for its intended purpose, can we really be trusted to save money anywhere else?" McCarthy said.

While some Democrats opposed the spending cuts as heartless, others mostly mocked the legislation.

"After spending nearly USD 2 trillion on tax cuts for the super-rich and blowing up the deficit, the Majority's bill is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "Republicans are trying to trick the American people into thinking they care about fiscal responsibility. They're not fooling anyone.