I’m not sure if Paul Ryan is teasing us conservatives with a more formidable stance or what on the upcoming Omnibus spending bill, but I like that he refuses take a ‘confrontation’ off the table. That’s the way it should be:
THE HILL – New Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday refused to rule out attaching legislative policy riders to an omnibus spending bill, foreshadowing a possible confrontation with President Obama next month.
“This is the legislative branch and the power of the purse rests within the legislative branch, and we fully expect that we’re going to exercise that power,” Ryan told reporters at his first news conference since he was elected Speaker last week.
Obama and congressional leaders struck a major deal last week that lifts sequester spending caps, sets spending levels and raises the debt ceiling for two years.
But House and Senate appropriators will need to pass an omnibus spending bill to prevent a government shutdown by Dec. 11. That’s when a stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, is set to expire.
Obama and Democrats are insisting on a clean spending bill, free of controversial policy riders or “poison pills.” But conservatives will be pressing their GOP leaders to attach a slew of amendments, including one to defund Planned Parenthood.
“So we have a tough deadline, December 11,” Ryan said. “We’ve got not a lot of time between now and then.”
National Review puts it this way:
“This is the legislative branch and the power of the purse rests within the legislative branch and we fully expect that we’re going to exercise that power,” Ryan told reporters Tuesday morning.
That statement marks a break with Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner, who developed a habit of pledging not to pass funding bills that would risk a government shutdown by provoking a presidential veto. The new, firmer stance could potentially put Ryan at odds with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who has also sworn to avoid government shutdowns. But it could also help Ryan mollify the conservative backbenchers who have accused GOP leaders of preemptively surrendering to Obama.
Democrats are already preparing to accuse conservatives of “demand[ing] a shutdown,” as New York’s Chuck Schumer put it Tuesday. “It won’t be over the numbers,” he said. “It would be over the riders.”
Perhaps Ryan will go for more modest riders instead of something more controversial. But if he goes for anything and has to fight for it, that may be a good sign for the future.