Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has a a plan to rescind some of the planned spending in the $1.3 trillion omnibus package, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't having it.
Despite Republican promises to promote fiscal responsibility, McConnell says Congress shouldn't cut spending because, essentially, Democrats wouldn't like it.
“You can’t make an agreement one month and say, ‘OK, we really didn’t mean it,'” McConnell said on Fox News. “[Trump] agreed to it. He was involved in the negotiation and signed the bill … We had a deal with the Democrats.”
But Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, disagrees.
“Once again, Mitch McConnell is making excuses for why Republicans cannot do what we all promised in the past,” Walker said Tuesday in a statement. “His latest rejection of President Trump’s spending cuts shows that McConnell prioritizes his backroom deal with Democrats over Republicans’ promise to rein in government excess.”
Rep. Dave Brat, another supporter of the plan to rescind spending, knows exactly where to start.
“Let’s start with cutting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Gateway Project, a pork project that would build a new tunnel to connect New Jersey and New York,” Brat wrote. “The estimated cost of the project has doubled in the last decade and a single shovel hasn’t even pierced the ground. Why should taxpayers from my state have to pay for this?”
Unfortunately, given McConnell's stance, it's unlikely that the spending cuts will pass. Congress only has 45 days to act on the rescission requests and McConnell's influence will enable to him to simply delay the decison until the deadline passes.
When one senator can jeopardize the fiscal security of the entire nation, there's a problem.
Fortunately, the Founders gave us a solution in Article V of the Constitution. Article V allows the states to call a Convention of States for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitution. These amendments can impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, including a balanced budget amendment, tax cuts, and spending caps.
Congress will never make the tough financial decisions for the good of the nation. That's why We the People need to step in and call an Article V Convention of States.
H/T The Daily Signal
