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 Despite conservative groups' denunciation of the plan and public
opposition from some members associated with the conservative Tea
Party movement, the Republican-controlled House was planning to vote
on Thursday to pass the deal, Representative Kevin McCarthy, the
third-ranking Republican told Reuters.
A key House panel, on a 9-3 vote, cleared the legislation for debate
and votes in the full House. The Republican-controlled Rules
Committee refused to allow Democrats to offer an amendment to extend
federal unemployment benefits that expire later this month.
The agreement, if approved, would be the first to bridge the bitter
partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats in Washington that
has paralyzed Congress since 2010. It is aimed primarily at breaking
a cycle of fiscal crises in Washington following last October's
chaotic 16-day closure of many federal agencies.
While it includes modest deficit reduction measures — $85 billion in
savings over ten years and an easing of across-the-board budget cuts
known as the "sequester" — it effectively concedes that larger scale
savings of the sort envisioned in various "grand bargain" proposals
are out-of-reach politically.
For some Republicans, it could have the added merit of keeping the
public's attention focused on President Barack Obama's healthcare
law and its rocky rollout instead of on another budget battle in the
midst of holiday season.
Republicans were hammered in public opinion polls for their role in
the October shutdown, but this faded quickly as the media later
shifted its focus to the Obamacare troubles.
The party's divisions, enflamed during the shutdown, were still on
display Thursday.
Organizations influential with House conservatives — such as the
Heritage Foundation, the Club for Growth and Americans for
Prosperity — continued denouncing the agreement.
In response, House Speaker John Boehner publicly lashed out at some
of the groups for opposing the deal even before it was made public.
"They're using our members, and they're using the American people,
for their own goals," said Boehner. "This is ridiculous. Listen, if
you're for more deficit reduction, you're for this agreement,"
Boehner said.
Club for Growth President Chris Chocola responded after Boehner's
comments: "This proposal swaps debt reduction today and next year
for the dubious promise of debt reduction a decade from now."
In past budget battles, many conservative House Republicans refused
to back legislation negotiated by Boehner or his subordinates.
Many say they will buck the leadership again this time. But others
were starting to fall in behind their leaders.
Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, a Tea Party favorite, told
reporters he expects more than two dozen of his fellow conservatives
to vote against the deal, which would not be enough to sink it if
some Democrats vote for it.
"It's more spending," Huelskamp complained.
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"I'm leaning yes," said Representative Tim Griffin, a conservative
Republican from Arkansas, who said it would avoid future government
shutdowns and "locks in some certainty, which I think the economy
needs and the American people need."
The deal is splitting possible Republican presidential contenders as
well. It was negotiated in part by House Budget Committee Paul Ryan,
the party's vice-presidential nominee in 2012 and a likely candidate
again in 2016.
Others likely to compete with Ryan for the Republican nomination
remain opposed, including Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand
Paul of Kentucky.
COMPLICATIONS
Despite the generally positive reception for the deal from
Republican leaders and most Democrats, the two parties are
unaccustomed to cooperating and the agreement inevitably will remain
fragile until it is done.
A complication arose on Wednesday, for example, as House Republican
leaders added a provision to the deal that would temporarily
forestall a reduction in payments to doctors by the Medicare health
program for the elderly.
This so-called "doc fix" is a perennial temporary adjustment made in
Congress to get around Medicare cost controls written into law.
This angered Democrats, who have so far been thwarted in their
demands to add an extension of federal jobless benefits due to
expire at year's end.
"I think it puts at risk the whole bill, and it surely puts at risk
my vote," said Democratic Representative Sandy Levin, who is pushing
for help for the 1.3 million long-term unemployed.
With people set to lose those benefits while the jobless rate
remains at 7 percent, the Obama administration said the economy
could take a hit as long-term unemployed people have less money to
spend.
"It's absolutely unconscionable that we are — could possibly even
consider leaving Washington, D.C., without extending those
benefits," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters.
Passage of the agreement in the House before the chamber recesses on
Friday for the year would all but guarantee the same in the Senate,
probably next week.
(Additional reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti;
writing by Richard
Cowan; editing by Fred Barbash, Vicki Allen, Jim Loney and Jackie
Frank)
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