House conservatives oppose bipartisan spending agreement, demanding further cuts
Congressional leaders have reached a bipartisan spending plan that would avert a Jan. 19 partial government shutdown, but many House Republicans say the deal does not go far enough to cut spending.
GOP Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told Morning Edition that the deal won't get his vote, but he stopped short of saying House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., should lose his job over the agreement.
"I don't care if you're a liberal, conservative, moderate or a mugwump — those numbers don't add up," Burchett told NPR's Steve Inskeep.
Without support from the most conservative members of his party, Johnson will have to rely heavily on Democratic support to avert a government shutdown. That could threaten Johnson's plan to add conservative policy provisions to the bill, like restrictions on abortion rights.
The agreement sets spending levels for the fiscal year, with $886 billion for defense programs and roughly $773 billion for nondefense domestic programs, for a total of about $1.6 trillion in overall spending. The agreement is virtually the same as a deal struck by Johnson's predecessor, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and President Biden during last year's debt limit negotiations.
NPR's Deirdre Walsh told All Things Considered that conservatives like Burchett are unlikely to vote for any spending agreement that could win support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
"A lot of people who are complaining now are conservatives who tend to vote against any deal that's cut with any Democrats," Walsh said.
That means Johnson will have to rely on votes from a majority of Democrats in order to pass the spending bills, a move that is sure to further anger the same conservatives who ousted McCarthy from his job over a similar decision.
Congress has to pass a total of 12 federal spending bills each year. So far none of the 12 bills has become law. Last year, Congress agreed to set a two-tiered deadline that divides those bills over separate deadlines. Lawmakers must pass the first portion of these bills by Jan. 19 to avoid a partial government shutdown and pass the remaining bills by Feb. 2.
"They've agreed on the size of the house — now they just have to come up with the blueprints and build the thing," NPR's Eric McDaniel told Morning Edition on Monday.
Burchett conceded that despite his opposition, the spending bill will likely pass with the support of Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has already signed on to the bill, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was "encouraged" by the deal.
"America faces serious national security challenges, and Congress must act quickly to deliver the full-year resources this moment requires," he said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Other Republicans, however, called the bill a "total failure."
"Our nation simply cannot afford the Swamp's reckless spending habits," Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., tweeted on Monday.
Burchett said that by agreeing to this framework, Johnson seems to have abandoned his promise to cut spending.
"It seems that once you get in this office, your viewpoints change," Burchett said.
While he is planning to personally oppose the bill, Burchett said that Johnson continues to have the support of the Republican rank and file because the process through which this bill has been negotiated has been more open.
"At least this time, we're going to know what we're going to consume — it wasn't force-fed to us," Burchett said.
Burchett said he is concerned that the United States is taking in more debt than it can handle, especially if Congress continues to increase aid to Ukraine. The bill sets top-line spending levels at $886 billion for defense, but how much money is sent to Ukraine is still up in the air.
"That's not America's war," Burchett said. "We're slipping into another Vietnam-type situation, where we first gave them money, then arms, then we gave them advisers — and then they gave us body bags."
Burchett also rejected the idea that not supporting Ukraine will lead to the United States losing its international influence, saying that the U.S. has spent enough money and sent enough weapons to the area to show its support.
"We've already put in $114 billion," Burchett said. "And I would argue that 114 billion back home could be spent a whole lot better."
Burchett said that the only way to avoid taking on more debt is to go back to pre-pandemic spending levels.
"There is no plan, and no party has the guts to make the cuts," Burchett said.
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Transcript
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Congressional leaders have agreed on a spending plan for the year, and now they have to persuade a majority of the rest of Congress to agree. House Speaker Mike Johnson signed onto a deal that raises defense spending and restrains other spending. The overall numbers are along the lines of a deal made by his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, a deal that played a role in prompting some of his fellow Republicans to revolt because they wanted much sharper spending cuts, among other things. Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee is one of the Republicans whose votes ultimately removed McCarthy last year, so what now? He joins us from lovely East Tennessee in Knoxville. Congressman, good morning.
TIM BURCHETT: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me on.
INSKEEP: Can you support this agreement?
BURCHETT: Not at this point, I cannot.
INSKEEP: Why not?
BURCHETT: Well, currently, we're taking in about $5 trillion a year, and we're spending $7 trillion. And there's no - I don't care if you're a liberal, a conservative, a moderate or a mugwump, those numbers just do not work. That's Washington math, and they cannot continue that way. If we would just go back to pre-COVID spending levels, we could balance this thing out. But there's no attempt to do that by either side, really. And...
INSKEEP: I wish we had time to define for people the word mugwump, but I guess they're going to have to go look that up for themselves.
BURCHETT: (Laughter) Yes, sir.
INSKEEP: Let me ask about a couple of details here. There's more spending here for Ukraine. Is your party ready to sign onto that?
BURCHETT: Well, I currently am not. We've given them $114 billion. And if you remember, President Trump said he wanted to build the wall for 4 billion, and we were told by Democrat leadership then that that would pretty much break us. Now we've given Ukraine 114 billion unchecked dollars. I would like to see Europe step up. You know, Germany, when they do their figuring, they figure in how many refugees they take in, for instance. And who takes in more refugees in this world than the United States of America?
INSKEEP: Well, I mean, as far as, like, literal refugees, the United States takes in fewer than Germany has. But let's just talk here for a moment about what the administration would say is at stake, that the United States would lose its credibility if it dropped support for Ukraine.
BURCHETT: Say that again. I'm sorry.
INSKEEP: The United States would say it's losing its international credibility, among other things, if it were to drop support for Ukraine.
BURCHETT: I don't know about that. I just think that Europe needs to step up. I just don't think that - that's not America's war. We're slipping into another Vietnam-type situation where we first gave them money, and then we gave them armaments, and then we gave them advisers. And then, basically, they gave us body bags with our boys, sending them back home. And I just don't see that. We've got the largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world over there, the Gerald R. Ford, at least it was. I mean, we've sent that to the Mediterranean.
INSKEEP: Right.
BURCHETT: So I would say - I would submit to you that we still have a pretty huge international influence. And I don't - and we've already put $114 billion, and I would think that that 114 billion back home could be spent a whole lot better.
INSKEEP: Now, let me just ask - we could go through a lot of items where you feel that too much is spent if you're feeling that we're trillions of dollars off the mark here. But let's talk about the political realities. A lot of Democrats can support this, your speaker can support it, I presume a lot of Republicans are going to support it then. So can you stop it?
BURCHETT: No, I don't think we can. We can try. We can delay it, I believe. And with Schumer giving his OK, that just - that gives the Democrats in the House cover. But still, we take in 5 trillion and spend 7 trillion. I know we're coming up on an election year and that makes everybody uneasy, but in East Tennessee, we try to be fiscally aware. As in Tennessee, we're a balanced budget state - our state government at least is. And I think that the people of this area respect fiscal responsibility, and right now we're not being fiscally responsible. We are borrowing at least 2 trillion a year and that is from the Chinese. And one year, one day, that money will come due, and that will be a very painful time.
INSKEEP: It is true the United States has borrowed from China and that interest rates have gone up. Let me ask about what this means for your party. As I noted, Kevin McCarthy signed onto these top-line numbers last spring. There was a kind of revolt within his party, within your conference then. And McCarthy had to back off the deal, and that was part of a process that ultimately led to him losing his job. Would you endanger Speaker Mike Johnson over agreeing to essentially the same deal?
BURCHETT: Well, I was more upset with the process than the product under Kevin McCarthy. If you remember, we had a fiscal year ending in September and we took off the whole month of August and then two weeks into September. And then we were supposed to come back in a week and a half, and they were going to jam a poor budget down our throats. At least this time we know what we're going to consume. It wasn't force-fed us and the process has been a lot more open. I would hope that in the future, though, we would try to have some fiscal restraint.
INSKEEP: Congressman, I want to go just a little bit longer here to put a big question on the table and get your thoughts on it. I think you know that a lot of critics of your conference would regard some of your members as obstructionists, as being against everything. And I just want to think this through. There is a point where in saying no, you are exercising democracy. You're representing your voters, you're representing your point of view, it's what you're there to do. There is some other point where you would not be supporting democracy because you're demanding 100% of what you want or you break the system, refuse to compromise, which is just not very democratic. Where would you draw the line between those two things?
BURCHETT: I would submit to you the whole democratic process is at risk right now with our fiscal cliff we are running off of. We are $34 trillion in debt and there is no plan. No party has the guts to make the cuts, to do anything. All I'm saying is go back under pre-COVID spending levels. I don't think your listeners could name one program they could do without that's been added to the federal government since COVID, other than the COVID funding, that they could do without. That's all we're asking for, it's fiscal responsibility. We take in 5 trillion, we're spending 7 trillion. That is not economically feasible, any shape, form or fashion.
INSKEEP: Although your...
BURCHETT: No business, no charity, NPR, nobody could operate under those - under that scenario.
INSKEEP: Although your speaker, who's quite conservative, thinks it's all right, this deal.
BURCHETT: Well, I don't know that his conservative credentials are calling - been called into question or not. I'm not sure. This - it seems that once you get in this office that your viewpoints change as speaker. So, you know, hey, as they always say, we've come to this agreement - and then as I read the paper, that we've come to this agreement - and we have not come to this agreement. There's several of us that believe in fiscal responsibility, although some don't.
INSKEEP: All right.
BURCHETT: They think we should just take, take and take.
INSKEEP: Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee, it's been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much, sir.
BURCHETT: Thank you so much. It's been my pleasure.
INSKEEP: All right. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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