Ezra Klein & Evan Soltas: This is what it looks like when the Republican budget strategy falls apart

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Wonkbook: This is what it looks like when the Republican budget strategy falls apart

By Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, Published: August 1 at 8:11 am



Question of the day: Who said this?

“Thus I believe that the House has made its choice: sequestration — and its unrealistic and ill-conceived discretionary cuts — must be brought to an end.”

Nancy Pelosi? Steny Hoyer? Chris Van Hollen?

Wrong. That was Hal Rogers, the Kentucky Republican who leads the House Appropriations Committee, after the aptly named THUD bill failed on the House floor (notice how I didn’t say it “landed with a thud”, or something similar? You can thank me later.)

“THUD,” in this case, stood for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. It’s the bill to fund those parts of the government through the next year. The cuts needed to be deep to hit the Ryan budget’s target. Too deep, as it turned out. The bill was pulled off the floor as support collapsed around it.

This is what it looks like when the Republican budget strategy collapses.

THUD’s fall comes days after House Republicans were supposed to release the Labor, Health and Human Services bill, which required cuts 19 percent beneath sequestration’s levels. The bill didn’t materialize.

It comes after House Republicans passed defense and veteran’s appropriations at higher levels than sequestration permitted — necessitating deeper cuts elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, Republicans are breaking with Mitch McConnell to back appropriations bills that reach pre-sequestration levels — bills that House Republicans have already dismissed.



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/01/wonkbook-this-is-what-it-looks-like-when-the-republican-budget-strategy-falls-apart/