House conservatives eye ‘unauthorized’ spending to broadly slash federal budget following debt deal

Conservatives in the House think they have found the secret path to force instant, deep cuts in government spending.

The conservatives say all it would take is for the House to refuse to fund “unauthorized” programs — the 1,100 line items in the spending bills that Congress approves every year, even though the specific legislative authority for the underlying agency or program lapsed years ago.

The idea has been percolating on Capitol Hill for years. Until now, it was seen as far-fetched — a right-wing nuclear option for cutting spending.

That’s changing.

Key Republicans are floating the idea after the budget deal between President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. They say the maneuver would be a shortcut to eliminating billions of dollars from the annual budget.

“This is a real plan to put downward pressure on spending after the horrible [McCarthy-Biden] debt bill,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican. “We should be doing this ASAP.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, New York Republican, said a review of unauthorized programs should be part of any discussion to rein in government spending and the national debt. She also said it should be targeted to root out waste.

“The lack of action to rein in unauthorized appropriations is costing Americans hundreds of billions in tax dollars,” Ms. Malliotakis said.

As with so much else in Washington, the mechanics are a bit arcane.

Congress holds the power of the purse and generally divides that into two pieces. On the one hand, it creates and sets policies for, or “authorizes,” government agencies. On the other hand, it allocates — or appropriates — money to carry out those policies.

In Congress, lawmakers often can’t agree on updating policies and sometimes never get around to it. Major programs such as the Endangered Species Act and the Justice Department haven’t been officially authorized in years.

Under a House rule, no unauthorized program is supposed to be funded. Without funding, the program or agency can’t operate.

Lawmakers regularly waive the no-authorization rule as part of rules governing debate on spending bills.

What if they don’t waive the rule this year?

Rep. Michael Simpson of Idaho, a senior Republican and chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Interior Department spending, raised the idea this spring during budget hearings with agency chiefs.

“We technically are not supposed to fund anything that is not authorized. Traditionally, they waive that rule when they … bring it to the floor. What are you going to do if the Rules Committee says, ‘No, we’re not going to waive that provision’?” Mr. Simpson said.

The Congressional Budget Office tracks unauthorized spending and said 1,108 authorizations expired before the current fiscal year and 355 more will expire during the year.

CBP calculated that $510 billion was spent in 2023 on activities whose authorization had expired.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, Georgia Republican, took the issue directly to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“In your opinion, should unauthorized agencies or unauthorized programs in the federal government receive funding through this Appropriations Committee?” he prodded.

Mr. Garland seemed stumped but replied: “At a high level of generality, it seems like a syllogism. If it’s unauthorized, it shouldn’t have appropriations.”

Mr. Clyde then sprung the trap. He pointed out that the Justice Department hadn’t been reauthorized since 2009.

“How can I, in good conscience, appropriate taxpayers’ money to an unauthorized agency?” the congressman said.

Later, in a statement to The Washington Times, Mr. Clyde said it was “greatly concerning” that Congress allowed programs, agencies and entire departments to receive money for years without direct authorization.

“As a new member of the Appropriations Committee, I’m committed to conducting thorough oversight of expired authorizations and unauthorized appropriations as part of the ongoing process to eliminate woke, weaponized and wasteful spending,” he told The Times.

The office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, didn’t respond to requests for comment for this report.

The House Republican rules package this year required each committee to submit a list of unauthorized spending programs by the beginning of March.

Republican leaders plan to use the list as a blueprint for spending cuts in the government funding battle.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington Republican, said she plans to use her position as chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to go after “zombie” programs.

“I intend to lead by example and start with the programs under our committee’s jurisdiction,” she said.

Blocking spending on unauthorized projects is a blunt instrument. Many lawmakers are unlikely to want the Justice Department outright defunded.

Peter Hanson, a political science professor at Grinnell College in Iowa, said the threat could be a viable negotiating tactic. Still, it will require unity from a conference with divisions over how far to push the spending issue.

“The real question for the GOP is what it hopes to gain from such tactics. For some members, the fight is the goal. For others, hardball tactics are used to gain leverage in budget negotiations to achieve a larger end,” Mr. Hanson said.

It wouldn’t take much for a few Republicans to force the spending authorization issue simply by refusing to vote for the rules of debate.

Those are almost always party-line votes that the majority wins. Yet given the narrow Republican edge in the House, a handful of Republicans joining Democrats could defeat a rule and effectively block the spending bills from reaching the floor.

Conservatives did that earlier this month.

Angered by the McCarthy-Biden debt deal, conservatives refused to back a rules-of-debate package, halting floor action on a series of Republican bills. The conservatives relented after Mr. McCarthy promised to reach for deeper spending cuts.