The Club for Growth on Wednesday came out against the budget deal unveiled by congressional negotiators, warning that the proposal could come back to haunt Republican incumbents at the ballot box.
Chris Chocola, president of the influential anti-spending group, said the deal restores previously agreed-to spending cuts with future promises of debt reduction that may never materialize.
The GOP would be better off passing a continuing spending resolution that keeps in place the spending caps that were part of the 2011 Budget Control Act, he said.
“Apparently, there are some Republicans who don’t have the stomach for even relatively small spending reductions that are devoid of budgetary smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Chocola said. “If Republicans work with Democrats to pass this deal, it should surprise no one when Republican voters seek alternatives who actually believe in less spending when they go to the ballot box.”
Sen. Patty Murray, Washington Democrat, and Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, on Tuesday rolled out the two-year spending deal they said would reduce the deficit by $23 billion over ten years without raising taxes.
The deal sets the top-line spending number at $1.012 trillion for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and $1.014 trillion for fiscal 2015, which begins Oct. 1.
It restores $63 billion of the “sequester” cuts that Congress passed as part of the BCA and that many conservatives saw as one of the biggest GOP achievements in recent years.
It also would force federal employees to pay more into their pensions and raises airlines fees.
The plan does not address mandatory spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare that are determined by formulas and are the biggest drivers of national spending.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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