Press Staff Blog
Speaker Ryan has been trying for weeks to rally his conference around a budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2017, with last night’s House GOP conference meeting set up to be their final pitch to the conference. How did it go? Shocker: not well. While House Republican leaders tried to sound optimistic in the press, the House Freedom Caucus has announced that it is officially opposed to the GOP proposal. Why does that matter? Given the numbers, House Republicans can’t pass a budget without their votes.
Speaker Ryan and House Republican leaders pitched their budget for Fiscal Year 2017 to the Republican conference this morning, reopening the bipartisan budget agreement by promising conservatives $30 billion in additional spending cuts. And if you think that means the House is any closer to considering a budget, think again. Republicans’ latest pitch didn’t seem to go over well with the conference, and the lack of specifics did nothing to appease the more hardline members of the party.
Speaker Ryan can’t unify House Republicans around a budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2017, so yesterday he called in Senator McConnell to try to talk some sense into the extreme Members of his party. A look at today’s headlines shows that it didn’t go well for him either:
The Hill: McConnell tries to sway House conservatives on budget deal
A look at recent headlines show Republican leaders continue to struggle with unifying their conference around a budget resolution for fiscal year 2017. With each passing day, the prospects of the GOP passing a budget and completing the appropriations process seem to lessen:
Washington Post: House Republicans struggle to end budget standoff
Speaker Paul Ryan gathered House Republicans on Friday to plot their strategy for their fiscal year 2017 budget resolution, pleading with the hardliners in his party to stick to the bipartisan budget spending limits agreed to last year. Of course, no one is surprised that the extreme Members of his conference aren’t having it. From CQ:
As the House votes on Republicans’ science bill on the Floor today, we wanted to bring to your attention a quote from Speaker Ryan on the day he was elected to be the Speaker of the House about the importance of following regular order and allowing Members to participate in an open process:
“Open up the process. Let people participate… [W]e need to return to regular order. Now, I know that sounds like process. But it’s actually a matter of principle.”
After Republicans added billions to the deficit when they passed their unpaid-for tax bill in December, Politico reports that the House Freedom Caucus is pushing Speaker Ryan to cut spending levels dramatically, rather than stick with the budget agreement that Republicans agreed to:
Yesterday, Speaker Paul Ryan had some alarming news for members of the Congressional Black Caucus – he supports legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act, but he isn’t willing to bring a bipartisan bill to the Floor. Apparently, he “can’t do that.”
Wanted to make sure you saw today’s editorial in the New York Times, which asks the million-dollar question: Will Speaker Ryan take the responsible path and prevent a shutdown, or will he give in to right-wing demands to shut down the government?
ICYMI: The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers released a letter today urging Members to oppose Ex-Im Bank related amendments to the highway bill. Take a look at a few key excerpts:
“I write to strongly urge your opposition to any amendment to the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank reauthorization contained in the Highway bill. Any amendment concerning the Ex-Im Bank is an attempt to kill the reauthorization.”