GOP rebels send warning to Speaker Johnson after blowing up vote last week: 'We're going to get cuts

[mystery-ak]

GOP rebels send warning to Speaker Johnson after blowing up vote last week: 'We're going to get cuts'
'We're just not gonna keep going like this,' Rep Ralph Norman tells Fox News Digital
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published November 18, 2023 4:00am EST

Members of the House Freedom Caucus are watching Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with a wary but hopeful eye after a GOP rebellion over government spending saw the new leader take his first major public setback.

"He assures us, and we trust him that that's the case," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital of Johnson’s goals to cut spending and advance conservative policies.

Norman added, "Now, if that's not the case, then I mean, we’re going to get cuts either way. We're gonna start taking rules down. We're just not going to keep going like this. We're just not doing it. Whatever it takes."

Long-standing fractures within the House GOP Conference, primarily over government spending, rose to the surface again this past week after Johnson passed a short-term spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rebels-send-warning-speaker-johnson-blowing-up-vote-last-week-were-going-get-cuts

[jmyrlefuller]

Is there anyone in Washington who has any clue how to draft an actual annual budget?

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@jmyrlefuller

Is there anyone in Washington who has any clue how to draft an actual annual budget?

Plenty of them.

The problem is getting agreement among Republican representatives as to what the spending levels in all those bills should be.  With just a 4 vote margin, compromise on both ends is essential or bills won't pass. If there's even a small faction that doesn't believe in that compromise, the bills can't be passed.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

GOP rebels send warning to Speaker Johnson after blowing up vote last week: 'We're going to get cuts'
'We're just not gonna keep going like this,' Rep Ralph Norman tells Fox News Digital
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published November 18, 2023 4:00am EST

Members of the House Freedom Caucus are watching Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., with a wary but hopeful eye after a GOP rebellion over government spending saw the new leader take his first major public setback.

"He assures us, and we trust him that that's the case," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital of Johnson’s goals to cut spending and advance conservative policies.

Norman added, "Now, if that's not the case, then I mean, we’re going to get cuts either way. We're gonna start taking rules down. We're just not going to keep going like this. We're just not doing it. Whatever it takes."

Long-standing fractures within the House GOP Conference, primarily over government spending, rose to the surface again this past week after Johnson passed a short-term spending bill known as a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rebels-send-warning-speaker-johnson-blowing-up-vote-last-week-were-going-get-cuts

Representative Norman appears to be under the misperception that the Freedom Caucus control 218 votes in Congress.  It doesn't.   

Norman should shut his yapper, and thank his fellow Freedom Caucus members for making that delicious poop sandwich in September when they voted down the bill that contained the 8% cuts.  Hope he enjoys every savory bite.

[Bigun]

I would make a sizeable wager that NO cuts will be forthcoming, in this or any other congress, MAYBE will will see some reductions in the rate of growth; but I doubt that even.

[jafo2010]

The UGLY TRUTH is that a fair number of those that call themselves Republican are actually Democrats.  That's right, individuals that had a conservative district, and were liberal and ran as Republicans to get in office.  That is the ONLY EXPLANATION for why we have so many RINOs.

The simple truth is that they control only one house, which means they have no control in obtaining conservative anything.  That is why the time is long overdue for our Constitution to be amended to require Congress to have a balanced budget, with the sole exception during a time of war, declared by Congress.  Last one was 1941.  The money squandered since 1945 is criminal.

Also, time for TERM LIMITS!  Long overdue for that.  When Rep James Whitten, Mississippi, retired after 53 years in Congress in 1995.  I can remember turning to my wife and telling her if I had spent 53 years of my life in Congress, my name would be a common household name, as common as George Washington, Abe Lincoln, and I have never once heard this guys name in the news.  Not once.  These people take up time and space and do literally nothing.  That must end.

I want people REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE< NOT THEMSELVES!  Serve 12 years and out.  No golden parachute, no elevated healthcare program, they get what everyone else gets.  A 401k program with a $1 for $1 match up to 6 %.  PERIOD!!!!  Perhaps if they end their GOLDEN EXISTENCE, they will begin to reign in spending throughout government, which is very much out of control.

The republic is politically gone.  No effort by the Republicans is happening because they are quite content with how things are.  We need total collapse to force these corrupt knuckleheads to do their damn job.

[DefiantMassRINO]

It's hard installing energy (and cost saving) features and appliances in a house while its on fire.

To extinguish the fire, fund the Government until Sept 30, 2024.

Once the fire of perpetual budget crisis is entinguished, members can focus on taking their machete's to Nancy Pelosi's spending for FY 2025.

Once the House has passed a FY 2025 Budget well before Oct. 1, 2024, it needs to force the Senate to vote up or down on the budget, and forgo the occult ritual known as "Budget Reconciliation".  Make the US Senate the Government Shutdown villians.

[catfish1957]

I think Shit Show aptly describes 2023 GOP.

I was the 3rd Republican in the history of this County (1975) And I have never been more embarassed.

[Free Vulcan]

@jmyrlefuller
Plenty of them.

The problem is getting agreement among Republican representatives as to what the spending levels in all those bills should be.  With just a 4 vote margin, compromise on both ends is essential or bills won't pass. If there's even a small faction that doesn't believe in that compromise, the bills can't be passed.

We either do something now now or it's over. We've got a huge rollover of debt in 6 months and we're having trouble getting buyers to take our paper already. There is no more room for dime store chessboard moves or kabuki theater.

[catfish1957]

We either do something now now or it's over. We've got a huge rollover of debt in 6 months and we're having trouble getting buyers to take our paper already. There is no more room for dime store chessboard moves or kabuki theater.

(See recent Chip Roy rant)

Tough talk won't get you a cup of coffee at my local Whataburger.

[bilo]

Is there anyone in Washington who has any clue how to draft an actual annual budget?

Yes!

The House Freedom caucus and the terrific 8 who forced a change in the speakership.

The problem is we have too many Establishment Loyalists in the Pub party and not enough Patriots.

[bilo]

I would make a sizeable wager that NO cuts will be forthcoming, in this or any other congress, MAYBE will will see some reductions in the rate of growth; but I doubt that even.

Unfortunately I think you are right.

Speaker Johnson failed in the key moment. The Pubs had all the leverage having already passed several appropriation bills. If the govt shut down and the House Pubs passed the remaining bills all the pressure would have been on the Senate and POTUS to do their jobs. Instead Johnson gave away that leverage by passing a CR that goes into an ELECTION YEAR.

If you think the Establishment Loyalists Pubs are cowards now how do you think they will be in an eletion year?

[bilo]

We either do something now now or it's over. We've got a huge rollover of debt in 6 months and we're having trouble getting buyers to take our paper already. There is no more room for dime store chessboard moves or kabuki theater.

40% of the bonds that are sold are to foreign buyers. Moody's has downgraded the outlook on our bonds. Institutional buyers, especially foreign buyers, look at this seriously.

The current yield on bonds runs between 1-1.5% above inflation. If inflation continues to come down the cost of the bonds to the govt probably won't decrease because everyone can see there is no control over deficit spending.

We are in a terrible positoin financially and it's why Johnson's failure on the budget is so bad.

[DB]

40% of the bonds that are sold are to foreign buyers. Moody's has downgraded the outlook on our bonds. Institutional buyers, especially foreign buyers, look at this seriously.

The current yield on bonds runs between 1-1.5% above inflation. If inflation continues to come down the cost of the bonds to the govt probably won't decrease because everyone can see there is no control over deficit spending.

We are in a terrible positoin financially and it's why Johnson's failure on the budget is so bad.

Johnson can't save us from ourselves. We've gone well past critical mass on people who expect free stuff from government. Our fate is unavoidable at this point.

[Free Vulcan]

40% of the bonds that are sold are to foreign buyers. Moody's has downgraded the outlook on our bonds. Institutional buyers, especially foreign buyers, look at this seriously.

The current yield on bonds runs between 1-1.5% above inflation. If inflation continues to come down the cost of the bonds to the govt probably won't decrease because everyone can see there is no control over deficit spending.

We are in a terrible positoin financially and it's why Johnson's failure on the budget is so bad.

Yes. Most people only think if inflation when it comes to bond pricing, but there is also the risk premium if creditworthiness is in question. We've just never had to deal with that problem before and people forget it.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

We either do something now now or it's over.

"Over" is a pretty strong word. 

Are you sure that's the one you mean?  Because nothing is going to change the balance of power in Washington in the next six months, which means that the next election is completely irrelevant because it will all be "over" by then anyway.

[bilo]

Johnson can't save us from ourselves. We've gone well past critical mass on people who expect free stuff from government. Our fate is unavoidable at this point.

If true I'm not sure what comes next. Does the Federal Reserve buy all the bonds that are sold to fund our deficits and the treasury sells them to the fed at 0% interest. If so what happens to our fiat currency? Another possibility is we end up like Argentina with inflation so high that radical socialists take over the govt and we never recover.

Either way the end of this out of control spending is not good.

[bilo]

Yes. Most people only think if inflation when it comes to bond pricing, but there is also the risk premium if creditworthiness is in question. We've just never had to deal with that problem before and people forget it.

People should be terrified, but they aren't. You can see how foreigners view the situation with the rise in nations looking to sign on to a BRICKS gold backed currency. It seems the only stumbling block to that is who controls the gold, or how it's allocated.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Unfortunately I think you are right.

Speaker Johnson failed in the key moment. The Pubs had all the leverage having already passed several appropriation bills. If the govt shut down and the House Pubs passed the remaining bills all the pressure would have been on the Senate and POTUS to do their jobs. Instead Johnson gave away that leverage by passing a CR that goes into an ELECTION YEAR.

If you think the Establishment Loyalists Pubs are cowards now how do you think they will be in an eletion year?

The "Pubs" are far less united now than they were before, and they weren't all that united then.  If McCarthy was dumb enough to go to the mat with a shutdown until the hardliners get what they want, a bunch of moderates would have defected and passed a CR with the Dems.  And before everyone calls them traitorous RINOs who are no different than Dems, the moderates were willing to support Chip Roy's bill with 8% cuts, and voted for it.  It was the conservatives who killed it, and when that happened, the moderates decided that reasonable compromise within the GOP was no longer possible.

That battle is lost for this Congress.  If you want different results, we have to elect a different Congress and a fiscally conservative President.  Neither looks exactly likely at this point....

[Free Vulcan]

"Over" is a pretty strong word. 

But it's definitely the reality. It will create a snowballing situation that will quickly spiral out of control, and the needed cuts will be had one way or the other, neither of which are pretty.

We've violated the laws of economics for a good 50 years, and the bill has come due.

[Smokin Joe]

I would make a sizeable wager that NO cuts will be forthcoming, in this or any other congress, MAYBE will will see some reductions in the rate of growth; but I doubt that even.

Growing by only 10% instead of a proposed 20% has long been sold as a "budget cut" 
.

That sort of lie needs to die.

[Bigun]

Growing by only 10% instead of a proposed 20% has long been sold as a "budget cut" 
.

That sort of lie needs to die.

  

When normal folks have to cut their spending it means that they will spend less than before but government doesn't speak that language.

[Bigun]

But it's definitely the reality. It will create a snowballing situation that will quickly spiral out of control, and the needed cuts will be had one way or the other, neither of which are pretty.

We've violated the laws of economics for a good 50 years, and the bill has come due.

  I'm afraid so!

[Hoodat]

We either do something now now or it's over. We've got a huge rollover of debt in 6 months and we're having trouble getting buyers to take our paper already. There is no more room for dime store chessboard moves or kabuki theater.

The best tool the Conservatives had (the debt ceiling limit) Trump's boy Kevin McCarthy handed over gift-wrapped to the Dems last April.  And not just until the end of the fiscal year either.  He gifted them this until after the election, forfeiting the opportunity for Republicans to use this as an election issue.  The Dems will get another $4 trillion in deficit spending to funnel into their election coffers.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

The best tool the Conservatives had (the debt ceiling limit) Trump's boy Kevin McCarthy handed over gift-wrapped to the Dems last April. 

Republicans who are willing to cross party lines so as not to have an extended shutdown now would have done the exact same thing had McCarthy refused a debt-limit increase in April.  It was going to happen one way or the other regardless of who was Speaker. Exactly as we are seeing now.