The new chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee reveals that he threw cold water on Trump’s plan to reverse part of the 1.3 trillion dollar spending bill when he met with Trump yesterday:
BLOOMBERG – A top Senate Republican said he warned President Donald Trump in a private meeting that an attempt to claw back billions in domestic spending from last month’s $1.3 trillion spending bill may not even get enough GOP votes to pass the Senate.
Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, who’s taken over chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, said acting on Trump’s plan to seek revisions in the spending plan would blow up an agreement reached after more than a month of negotiations with Democrats.
“My view is that when you make a deal with Democrats you’ve made a deal and you shouldn’t go back on your word,” Shelby said in an interview. “I told him he may not have the votes for that,” he said. “We may not act on in it in the committee.”
May not act on it in committee? Wow. It’s one thing if such a proposal fails to get enough votes by the Senate, but it’s another if Republicans refuse to even take it up in committee.
The obscure provision of the 1974 budget act that the White House wants to use allows Congress to cancel spending with a simple majority in the Senate instead of 60 votes, meaning Democrats can be bypassed.
Shelby, who met Trump at the White House Wednesday during his first full day as chairman, along with White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Vice President Mike Pence, said that some of his fellow Republicans may object.
“It would be hard to move,” he said. “It depends on the particulars. Maybe they send up something that everyone wants to get rid of.”
Shelby isn’t the only one. His fellow colleague in the House feels similarly:
But the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, also has thrown cold water on the idea.
“I don’t think it’s a great idea because keeping your word is pretty important,” the New Jersey Republican told reporters Tuesday.
It doesn’t surprise me that this is getting stiff resistance from Republicans, especially these two. They both voted with Democrats for the enormous spending! And they both control their respective Appropriations committees.
This is another reason why it was dumb for Trump to sign it in the first place, especially with RINOs like these in Congress. He should have stood his ground and demanded more fiscal sanity from the outset, government shutdown be damned.
But instead he approved it, wanting to ensure Mattis got his money for the Pentagon. Going back on it now would take a congressional miracle and I just don’t see that happening.