Biden Throws Down On Kevin McCarthy And Threatens To Veto House GOP Spending Bills

President Biden signaled that he would veto the House Republican-passed spending bills full of culture war issues if they made it to his desk.

Here is the Statement of Administration Policy on the House-passed spending bills:

The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 4366, making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year (FY) ending September 30, 2024, and other purposes.
 
In May, the Administration negotiated in good faith with the Speaker on bipartisan legislation to avoid a first-ever default and protect the Nation’s hard-earned and historic economic recovery. This negotiation resulted in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and set spending levels for FYs 2024 and  25. The agreement held spending for non-defense programs roughly flat with FY 2023 levels, a compromise that protected vital programs Americans rely on from draconian cuts House Republicans proposed. The agreement also protected historic legislative accomplishments from the past two years, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law).
 
House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead, with just over two months before the end of the fiscal year, are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the FRA agreement and endanger critical services for the American pe le. These levels would result in deep cuts to climate change and clean energy programs, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and healthcare.
 
These bills include billions in additional rescissions from the IRA and other vital legislation that would result in unacceptable harm to clean energy and to energy efficiency initiatives that lower energy costs and critical investments in rural America.
 
The draft bills also include numerous new, partisan policy provisions with devastating consequences including harming access to reproductive healthcare, threatening the health and safety of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Americans, endangering marriage equality, hindering critical climate change initiatives, and preventing the Administration from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
 
The Administration stands ready to engage with both chambers of the Congress in a bipartisan appropriations process to enact responsible spending bills that fully fund Federal agencies in a timely manner.
 
If the President were presented with H.R. 4366, he would veto it.

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Kevin McCarthy Is Picking Another Fight With Biden That He Won’t Win

The Senate has already said that the House Republican-passed spending bills are dead on arrival, so the statement of administration policy drives the message home that the spending bills that  Republicans wasted their time passing in the House are dead as a doornail. House Republicans are in session for one more week before they leave for the entire month of August. Speaker McCarthy could have used that time to craft bipartisan bills that would have flown through Congress. Instead, he passed a doomed bill and put Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on the conference committee to negotiate the final legislation.

House Republicans learned nothing from their debt limit defeat, and are stumbling into another confrontation with President Biden that they will not win.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association