GOP leaders—with some help from President Donald Trump—are scrambling to round up Republican support for a two-year, $2.7 trillion budget deal as the House moves toward a vote on the package Thursday afternoon.
Top Republicans believe only a fraction of their conference will support the legislation, hammered out during weeks of negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
GOP insiders estimate that as little as one-third of the 197-member GOP conference will back the measure, although the vote tally is still fluid.With GOP leaders facing strong opposition from rank-and-file members over the package, Trump tweeted out his support for the legislation on Thursday morning.
"House Republicans should support the TWO YEAR BUDGET AGREEMENT which greatly helps our Military and our Vets. I am totally with you!," Trump said.
But House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) didn't sound optimistic that Trump's tweet would move many votes.
"It helps,” Scalise said. But Scalise added, “We’ve heard from a lot of members who said they’re voting no, no matter what. But this helps with some of those members who are on the fence.”
When asked whether the majority of the GOP conference would get behind the budget deal, Scalise admitted, “I don’t think that was ever something realistic. But we’re working to build the numbers.”
One member who did announce her support for the agreement is GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Cheney had declined to say whether she backed the deal since it was announced earlier this week.
“I support the budget," Cheney said. "It’s not a deal I would have done.
It’s not a deal that we would do if we were in the majority. It shows you why elections matter. But the importance of being able to get a defense number, that is a sufficient number, is important.“The Republican Study Committee and House Freedom Caucus—two major groups within the conference —both are opposed to the measure, which increases Pentagon and domestic spending by $320 billion over two years while also suspending the debt ceiling until at least July 31, 2021.
“For too long, Congress has dodged its responsibility to provide fiscally sound solutions that will ensure the continued security and prosperity of our great nation," said Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), RSC chairman, and the RSC Steering Committee. "As the largest caucus of conservatives in Congress, it is the Republican Study Committee’s duty to insist upon better stewardship and to oppose irresponsible efforts to raise discretionary limits."
On the Democratic side, Pelosi is personally lobbying her members to support the agreement, and she predicted it would pass.
"We're going to have a majority for the bill," Pelosi told reporters Thursday morning. "We want it to be bipartisan."
Progressives, concerned about inflating the Pentagon’s budget, are expected to rally around Pelosi. Their backing comes after a revolt earlier this year, when they rejected spending levels crafted by House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), and sought bigger increases for domestic programs and cuts to military spending.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus released a statement on Wednesday in support of the deal without guaranteeing votes for it.
“This deal does not address the bloated Pentagon budget, but it does begin to close the gap in funding for families, by allocating more new non-defense spending than defense spending for the first time in many years,” the lawmakers said.
Progressive support began to trickle out on Wednesday, with Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) declaring their support. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told POLITICO that she was “leaning” toward a “yes” vote.
“We’ve got to look for every leverage point that we have, but this is a critical one to get off the table for a whole host of reasons,” Jayapal said of the budget deal.
The two-year, $2.7 trillion package now earning halfhearted endorsements from progressives includes $5 billion more for the military in fiscal 2020 funding than what House Democrats like Yarmuth wanted to provide earlier this year, in addition to $15 billion less for domestic programs.
Under the deal, defense programs would see a 3 percent hike in fiscal 2020, topping off at $738 billion. Domestic programs would increase 4 percent over current levels to a total of $632 billion, which includes $2.5 billion for the 2020 census.
The agreement includes about $77 billion in offsets, which is far less than the $150 billion sought by the Trump administration. Those offsets are expected to kick in near the end of a decade, meaning they’ll likely never take effect.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine