GOP negotiators struggled Tuesday to complete their budget as a lone Republican held out, protesting what he called “gimmicks” his colleagues were using.
Republicans have sidelined Democrats in the negotiations, so they need the support of Sen. Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, to complete the overdue deal. But Mr. Corker said he wasn’t comfortable with shifting money to get around budget caps.
The standoff could spoil GOP plans to vote on the budget resolution this week and take up actual spending bills.
Mr. Corker said one reason he has not signed the deal is because it uses “Changes in Mandatory Programs,” or CHIMPS, which delay mandatory spending to free up money for other priorities. Critics say it is a phony maneuver that simply delays budgetary pain and results in no actual savings.
Mr. Corker said employing the budgetary sleight of hand would lead to $190 billion in extra spending over a 10-year period.
“It’s something our caucus had been all for eliminating a year ago,” he told reporters. “I have concerns about that.”
Behind the scenes, Mr. Corker also is working to make sure GOP amendments do not spoil a bipartisan bill he is shepherding that lets Congress weigh in on an emerging nuclear deal with Iran, although it was unclear if the negotiations played a role in his budget moves.
His holdout scuttled GOP leaders’ hopes of unveiling a final budget deal Monday night. Both the House and Senate passed plans a month ago, but they have failed to meet the April 15 deadline for a final unified agreement.
The current draft would forgo a House proposal to turn Medicare into a voucherlike system down the road. But it does preserve the ability to use a fast-track budget tool to repeal Obamacare, avoiding a Democratic filibuster — though Mr. Obama would still retain the power to veto the bill.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, wants the House to vote on the conference report Thursday, clearing the way to consider 12 annual spending bills that Congress has struggled to pass in recent years.
“This is why you start earlier,” Mr. McCarthy said, boasting that lawmakers are kick-starting the appropriations process earlier than any Congress since 1974.
Democrats, meanwhile, complained Tuesday they’ve been shut out of the process and will leave Republicans the job of defending the congressional budget on their own.
“They met with themselves in secret. There was no public debate at all on this terrible budget that they have given to the American public,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said.
Democrats object to the GOP’s defense spending hikes, saying they should be matched dollar-for-dollar with more domestic spending. Democrats also complained that, as written, the Republican budgets would cut health, education and welfare programs.
“This is like Robin Hood in reverse — taking from the poor, giving to the rich,” Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said.
The budget is nonbinding and cannot be filibustered.
But the spending bills to carry out the budget can be filibustered, and would also have to survive a potential White House veto.
House Republicans, anticipating the budget, have already written and prepared for floor action two of the 12 annual spending bills, but the White House issued veto threats on them Tuesday.
Mr. Obama, like fellow Democrats, insists Congress spend more money on domestic priorities — in this case, on veterans’ medical care and clean energy sources.
Mr. McCarthy said Republicans will not try to bust the caps set by the “sequester” cuts because the limits are written into law, and they think Mr. Obama is an uncooperative negotiator.
The president would seek tax hikes to get around the caps, he said, and “that’s not gonna happen.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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