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CHAIRMAN JOHNSON, REP. BANKS RESPOND TO POTENTIAL BUDGET CAPS DEAL

July 19, 2019

WASHINGTON – Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.) and RSC Budget and Spending Task Force Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.) released the following statement regarding reports of a potential budget caps deal:

"House conservatives are deeply concerned about the latest reports regarding the status of a budget caps deal. We commend the White House for recognizing the need to extend budget caps while providing offsets, but the extent to which these tools are apparently being used, and the reported size of the tentative deal, do not meet the minimal standards the RSC has set forth. Reports indicate this deal would be a far cry from the fiscally responsible path represented by President Trump's budget request.

"By rejecting even modest conditions from the White House, Speaker Pelosi seems determined to drive our nation into bankruptcy to fund her big-government agenda. Republican negotiators from Congress and the White House cannot allow such a deal to proceed, particularly when the end result will be a Democratic-led crusade to use poison-pill spending riders to undercut the White House's deregulatory agenda, homeland safeguards and pro-life policies."

BACKGROUND

Earlier this week, the RSC Steering Committee took an official position to adopt requirements for any agreement to raise the discretionary spending caps as outlined in a letter by the RSC Budget and Spending Task Force to congressional leadership.

The letter urges adherence to the current-law discretionary spending caps for FY 2020 and FY 2021 for base spending and resolves to reject any caps deal unless it is fully offset, enacts a long term spending control and does not irresponsibly swell the size of the federal discretionary budget.