"Face the Nation," May 28, 2023
Interview
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Margaret, good to be with you.
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I feel confident that we'll have those votes after people review the text, talk with their colleagues, compare it to our goals.
Speaker McCarthy is the only person who's demonstrated urgency on this point, starting when he was sworn in, and starting with this first meeting with President Biden to get to a sensible and responsible increase to the debt ceiling.
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He had two red lines, Margaret...
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... no tax increase and not a clean debt ceiling. And I think he's achieved that.
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That's my view.
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Yes.
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I believe it will.
I will tell you why. We had our plan, which we passed, as you noted, on April 26, with the full support of the American...
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... people to stop the avalanche of spending. And each component we had of limiting the rate of growth limiting the amount of spending...
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No, no, no, it's not past -- no, no, no, it's not...
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No, no, no, it's not past tense.
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We can. We can.
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OK, well, my point is that it's not past tense.
Each of the components we had in the bill on the 26th is reflected in this negotiated deal and principle that the speaker achieved with President Biden. And that's why I believe that we'll have those votes on Wednesday, because we limit the rate of growth, we cut spending, we claw back unneeded spending and recision, we stop unnecessary spending, and we get our economy growing with regulatory relief and by encouraging more people back to work.
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OK. Well, they need to read the text and visit with their colleagues.
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This is a -- not a -- no, I'm going to read it this afternoon...
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... when it's posted on the House Web site.
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Well, we're going to limit the rate of spending growth for nondefense, nonveteran spending. It will be at FY22 levels. Defense and Veterans will be at FY23 levels, and then we capped the growth right and spending 1 percent a year for six years.
That was a key component in the April 26 bill when we offered 1 percent of growth for 10 years. We also are going to go to a Massie-Emmer approach on appropriations bills, which finally opens up and gives strength to the appropriations process, that if all 12 bills are not passed by September 30, then we go to a continuing resolution at 99 percent of current year spending levels.
That's an immense incentive for the Congress to do its work and pass all 12 bills in the House and the Senate.
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And that's the spending issue. And then we -- we claw back, as you noted, COVID relief money, other recisions.
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We stop the first year of the 10-year increase in the IRS budget. That's nearly $2 billion of spending stopped of about $80 billion that was to be spent over 10 years for hiring IRS agents.
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Well, inflation is...
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Yes.
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Well, first, I think that's why Speaker McCarthy and President Biden agreed to the $888 billion spending level, which was the president's level, plus 3 percent inflation, was exactly that point contained in this negotiated deal.
I also would say, look, we've had a gross overreaction in fiscal and monetary policy since the pandemic. And that's why House Republicans are trying to slow the growth in spending and get back to normal before the pandemic, and all areas are going to have to sacrifice.
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But, look, the speaker and the president agree. We want to preserve defense, preserve -- preserve veterans, and take Social Security and Medicare off the table.
And those are big chunks of the federal budget.
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Well, I'm one of those people that wanted bigger reductions. But I also recognize we control only the House of Representatives. We've got to get it through the Senate, as you note, and the Biden administration controls the central government here.
If they were so concerned about the debt ceiling, they could have negotiated with McCarthy a lot earlier, or they could have even raised the debt ceiling when they controlled both branches of the House and Senate and the federal government in December. But they didn't.
So this is the world we have. It's not the spending cuts I would prefer. But when you look at pay-go on regulatory costs, that's a big change. When you look at the Massie-Emmer note...
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... on 99 percent C.R. on appropriations, that's a big change.
So I think we're in the absolute right direction. And it absolutely follows the goals of House Republicans as laid out on April 26.
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