President Trump ’s budget has done the nearly unthinkable — it has united Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who said Tuesday that the $4.7…
President Trump ’s budget has done the nearly unthinkable — it has united Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who said Tuesday that the $4.7 trillion plan is already in the dustbin and they’re looking past it toward another two-year deal to increase spending caps.
The White House urged Congress this week to stick by the caps, imposed under a 2011 budget deal between President Obama and House Republicans, which would ratchet discretionary spending down by $126 billion next year.
Key lawmakers, though, said that’s a non-starter.
“The budget is a disaster — a total disaster. Worse than last year and the year before,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell, New Jersey Democrat. “They want us to bail them out of the mess they put us in — that’s why they’re talking about caps.”
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, ruled out the budget plan’s proposed cuts to programs under his jurisdiction, saying he thought of them more as a suggestion than a directive.
“I think it’s somewhat, at least, a political statement of where the administration [would] like to be,” Mr. Roberts said. “I do know there’s a lot of cuts to agriculture — we just passed a farm bill. We’re not going to do that.”
If Congress isn’t going to make the president’s proposed cuts, the conversation will quickly shift to just how much higher lawmakers will allow spending to rise.
