THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015

***Members are advised that 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.

Complete 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, $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 roughly $900 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 gained coverage so far, 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 would make 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 in 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  providing for $20 billion of the additional funding to be offset at a later date.  This dangerous budget gimmick effectively removes 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.  Once again, 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.

The Rule, which was adopted yesterday, provides for one hour of remaining general debate equally divided between members of the Joint Economic Committee. The Rule makes in order 6 amendments in the nature of substitutes and provides for ten minutes of final general debate time controlled by the Budget Committee upon the conclusion of amendment consideration. The Rule also 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. 

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. 1527– Slain Officer Family Support Act of 2015 (Rep. Jeffries – Ways and Means)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, March 26: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 2 - Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Rep. Burgess – Energy & Commerce/Ways & Means) (Subject to a Rule).