https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-09/pelosi-abandons-budget-cap-bill-amid-house-democratic-divisions
Pelosi Abandons Budget Cap Bill Amid House Democratic Divisions
House Democratic leaders shelved a plan to pass a bill increasing budget caps for the next two fiscal years amid infighting between their caucus’s liberal and moderate wings.
Liberals demanded $33 billion more for domestic social programs in 2020 as the price of their support, while some moderates opposed the bill over its lack of spending cuts in mandatory entitlement programs to offset the impact on the deficit. Republicans slammed the House majority for failing to produce a budget so far this year.
The bill was intended to be an opening offer from House Democrats in budget talks with the White House and Republican-led Senate about the level of discretionary spending. It calls for increasing defense and non-defense caps by $88 billion each in 2020. Disagreement among House Democrats now raises questions about how those talks will proceed.
"There are further conversations we must have to reach consensus between the wings of our caucus, left and right," House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth said in an emailed statement.
Progressives urged party leadership to use Congress’s authority over taxpayer money to stake out a bold position on what the government’s priorities should be. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, said his pitch to the Appropriations Committee will be to spend less money on the military to free up funds for social programs.
“We can’t surrender before the first shot is fired,” Khanna said, setting the tone for budget negotiations with Republicans and the Trump administration.
The White House proposed keeping existing spending limits in place while giving the military $174 billion through a budget maneuver. Senate Republicans also put forward a budget resolution with the current caps in place. Without an agreement on the overall levels of defense and non-defense spending, federal departments could shut down at the end of September for lack of funding, and an automatic 10 percent cut would hit most government accounts.
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