House Republicans float controversial budget plan

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Politics | Tue Mar 15, 2016 1:21pm EDT

House Republicans float controversial budget plan

WASHINGTON | BY DAVID MORGAN

U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday insisted they will proceed with a fiscal 2017 budget plan despite a flat-out rejection from their party's fiscal hawks that poses an important test of Speaker Paul Ryan's leadership.

The $3.9 trillion proposal, which the House Budget Committee hopes to embrace formally on Wednesday for an eventual floor vote, would provide Ryan with a first step in his political goal of uniting the Republican Party behind a detailed policy plan ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections. The plan aims to achieve a balanced budget within a decade.

"I promise in this speakership that we're not going to have a top-down, cram-it-down-people's-throat kind of leadership," Ryan told reporters.

"We're going to make decisions as a team. We're going to push power out to the members, and we're going to make a team decision on this issue," he added.

But the House Freedom Caucus, which includes dozens of outspoken conservatives who dethroned Ryan's predecessor John Boehner, has been complaining for months about a $1.07 trillion ceiling for discretionary spending that was enacted into law last November. It says the cap should be $30 billion lower and has warned leaders of its opposition.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-budget-idUSKCN0WH2C5

[saturnsring]

1. lololololol "I promise in this speakership that we're not going to have a top-down, cram-it-down-peo

"I promise in this speakership that we're not going to have a top-down, cram-it-down-people's-throat kind of leadership," Ryan told reporters.