“We have to figure out whether we’re going to be able to govern,” said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), with the fate of legislation in doubt.
By Mike DeBonis and Mike DeBonis Congressional reporter covering the House of Representatives Email Bio Follow Rachael Bade Rachael Bade Congressional reporter Email Bio Follow April 9 at 11:55 AM A liberal revolt is threatening to scuttle House Democrats’ plans to approve federal spending levels this week, a move that Democratic leaders fear could undermine party unity and harm their ability to negotiate with President Trump and Senate Republicans in a coming fiscal standoff.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Barbara Lee — respectively, the co-chair and a past chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — spoke up inside the meeting to object to the spending levels passed last week by Yarmuth’s committee. As in federal budgets dating back nearly two decades, the panel-approved spending caps for 2020 devote a larger share of the discretionary budget to defense spending than nondefense spending .
“This is not a hard ask — this is a $33 billion increase [in nondefense spending],” she said. “Here’s a real opportunity to tell people we are investing in their future and not in a Pentagon . . . that is increasingly wasteful and hasn’t conducted an audit. . . . We say we’re for the people; we have to be for the people.”
Asked about the liberal opposition while exiting the caucus, Hoyer said: “We have to get an agreement . . . between the House, the Senate and the president. That’s the reality.” Pocan pushed back on the notion that liberals were undercutting leadership’s bargaining with the GOP, suggesting they actually wanted to strengthen it.
“We’re able to have some differences, but at the end of the day, we have to be able to govern,” said Rep. Daniel Kildee , a Budget Committee member. “We can’t let ourselves fall off the cliff here.”
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