THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015

Daily Leader

For Immediate Release:

2015-03-24T00:00:00

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House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
10:00 a.m.: Morning Hour 12:00 p.m.: Legislative Business Fifteen “One Minutes”	1:30 – 2:00 p.m.	2:00 – 2:30 p.m.

**Members are advised that following last votes, the House will consider the first three hours of general debate on H.Con.Res. 27. The House is expected complete general debate and consider all of the Budget Substitute Amendments on Wednesday.

H.Res. 163 – Rule Providing for Consideration of H.Con.Res. 27 – Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2017 through 2025 (Rep. Price (GA) – Budget) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules Committee has recommended a structured Rule that provides for four hours of general debate with three hours equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Budget and one hour equally divided between members of the Joint Economic Committee.

The Rule makes in order 6 amendments in the nature of substitutes, and waives all points of order against them. The Rule provides that if more than one such amendment is adopted, then only the one receiving the greater number of affirmative votes shall be considered as finally adopted. In the case of a tie for the greater number of affirmative votes, then only the last amendment to receive that number of affirmative votes shall be considered as finally adopted. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Begin Consideration of H.Con.Res. 27 – Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2017 through 2025 (Rep. Price (GA) – Budget) (Four Hours of Debate). The Republican Budget, submitted by Chairman Tom Price, contains $5.5 trillion in spending cuts, including cuts to nondefense discretionary appropriations of $759 billion below the Budget Control Act’s sequestration level caps. As in past years, it proposes to end the Medicare guarantee and turn it into a voucher program. It would also pocket $913 billion from turning Medicaid into a capped block grant. The Republican Budget counts roughly $2 trillion in savings from full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the Medicaid expansion, without providing a replacement for the more than 16 million people who have signed up for coverage, despite the fact that the law has withstood over 50 votes in the House to repeal or undermine the law. It also includes reconciliation instructions in order to fast-track consideration of future legislation to repeal the ACA. It includes destructive cuts to nutrition assistance, including at least $125 billion in cuts to the SNAP program, while converting it into a block grant program that CBO has stated could both allow for federal SNAP funding to be diverted to other programs by states and cause even worse economic conditions for low income families. It also eliminates $89 billion to Pell Grants, making college less affordable for students and their families. Despite proposing many of the same Republican policies rejected by the American people, this budget still must rely on dubious dynamic scoring and a $1.1 trillion magic asterisk to hide any policy specifics behind additional spending cuts to make it appear that it balances.

The Republican Budget continues to exempt defense spending from the consequences of their budget cutting ideology. The Republican Budget adds $36 billion in non-war related funding to the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account in FY16, which is not counted toward the sequester level spending cap, while expressing the sense that $20 billion of the additional funding should be, but is not required to be, offset at a later date. This dangerous budget gimmick effectively removes any budget constraints on the Pentagon at the same time this budget doubles down on nondefense cuts, lowering those caps by $759 billion below the already low sequester level over the next decade, continuing the “meat-ax” approach to reducing the deficit through un-itemized discretionary cuts.

The Republican Budget Resolution is very similar to the budgets that Republicans have proposed in recent years and the American people have opposed each time. It is not a serious document: it avoids tough decisions, and it forces the American people to play ‘fill in the blanks’ with the details. It is an ideological message document written for hard-line conservatives that threatens our nation’s future and our economy by disinvesting in innovation, education, and infrastructure. It does not reduce the deficit in a responsible way, instead placing the burden of deficit reduction onto seniors, working families, and the most vulnerable Americans. Members are urged to VOTE NO on H.Con.Res. 27.

Bill Text for H.Con.Res. 27:
PDF Version

Background for H.Con.Res. 27:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)
Summary of Substitute Amendments

Suspension (1 bill)

H.R. 1092– To designate the Federal building located at 2030 Southwest 145th Avenue in Miramar, Florida, as the “Benjamin P. Grogan and Jerry L. Dove Federal Bureau of Investigation Miami Field Office”, as amended (Rep. Wilson (FL) – Transportation and Infrastructure)

Postponed Suspension (1 bill)

H.R. 216 – Department of Veterans Affairs Budget Planning Reform Act of 2015, as amended (Rep. Brown (FL) – Veterans’ Affairs)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, March 25: The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately. The House will reconvene at approximately 10:45 a.m. for a Joint Meeting of Congress to receive His Excellency Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Following the Joint Meeting, the House is expected to continue consideration of H.Con.Res. 27 – Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2017 through 2025 (Rep. Price (GA) – Budget).

The Daily Quote
“Both GOP [House and Senate] budgets rely heavily on huge and politically unlikely spending cuts and bewildering gimmicks that don't begin to add up. Both proposals are more partisan wish lists than serious attempts to attack one of the nation's most serious problems. For example, both budgets would get $2 trillion of their more than $5 trillion in presumed savings over the next decade by repealing Obamacare. President Obama would veto that even if Congress managed to pass it. And killing the law before Republicans agree on what to do when millions of people lose their insurance policies is nonsensical. The budget drafters don't seem to have thought through even the budgetary consequences. Ending Obamacare's various tax increases and penalties, plus other tax cuts Republicans propose, would cost the government more than $1 trillion in revenues. To stay on the path to balance, Congress would have to somehow replace those lost revenues, but neither plan spells out how that would be done… Not only are the cuts destructively large and politically unrealistic, they also focus mainly on programs that offer lifelines to lower-income Americans. The GOP plans would end Obamacare subsidies that help people buy insurance, slash Medicaid and deeply cut food stamps and college aid, among other cuts. What's left is a political fantasy that defines how far Congress has moved from the more responsible practices of the 1990s, when Congress actually hammered out real deficit reduction agreements that helped balance the budget from 1998 to 2001.” - USA Today Editorial Board, 3/23/2015

The Daily Quote

“Both GOP [House and Senate] budgets rely heavily on huge and politically unlikely spending cuts and bewildering gimmicks that don't begin to add up. Both proposals are more partisan wish lists than serious attempts to attack one of the nation's most serious problems. For example, both budgets would get $2 trillion of their more than $5 trillion in presumed savings over the next decade by repealing Obamacare. President Obama would veto that even if Congress managed to pass it. And killing the law before Republicans agree on what to do when millions of people lose their insurance policies is nonsensical. The budget drafters don't seem to have thought through even the budgetary consequences. Ending Obamacare's various tax increases and penalties, plus other tax cuts Republicans propose, would cost the government more than $1 trillion in revenues. To stay on the path to balance, Congress would have to somehow replace those lost revenues, but neither plan spells out how that would be done… Not only are the cuts destructively large and politically unrealistic, they also focus mainly on programs that offer lifelines to lower-income Americans. The GOP plans would end Obamacare subsidies that help people buy insurance, slash Medicaid and deeply cut food stamps and college aid, among other cuts. What's left is a political fantasy that defines how far Congress has moved from the more responsible practices of the 1990s, when Congress actually hammered out real deficit reduction agreements that helped balance the budget from 1998 to 2001.”

- USA Today Editorial Board, 3/23/2015