Congressional Republicans Show Their Hand: Committee Spending Levels Shortchange Key Priorities

House and Senate Republicans have started to show how they plan to budget at discretionary levels that are the lowest in a decade, adjusted for inflation. Compared to the President’s Budget, their budget will force cuts in areas critical to the economy and the middle-class, ranging from research to education to environmental protection, as well as in national security priorities, ranging from homeland security to peacekeeping and foreign assistance to the base defense budget.

These funding levels are the result of Congressional Republicans’ decision to lock in the funding cuts imposed by sequestration. Sequestration was never intended to take effect: rather, it was supposed to threaten such drastic cuts to both defense and non-defense funding that policymakers would be motivated to come to the table and reduce the deficit through smart, balanced reforms. The President's Budget would reverse these cuts going forward, replacing the savings with commonsense spending and tax reforms in order to make investments important to families, the economy, and our national security. Unfortunately, the bills and appropriations targets released to date double-down on a very different approach.

Click here to read more about the impact of the House Republican appropriations bills and funding targets on middle-class priorities. Click here to read more about how House Republicans’ short-sighted priorities will affect your State.

• Read OMB’s letters to Chairman Rogers expressing concern about the House appropriations bills released to date:

Coming soon: The impact of Senate Republican appropriations bills and funding targets on middle-class priorities.

• Read OMB’s letters to Chairman Cochran expressing concern about the Senate appropriations bills released to date:

Note: These fact sheets will be updated to reflect the specific impacts of appropriations bills as they are released. This post was last updated on June 29, 2015.
 

Shaun Donovan is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.