By Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump and GOP leaders enter their
next big battle facing stubborn opposition in both parties that
increases Republicans' worries that they will need more Democratic
support than previously expected to avert a government shutdown by
the end of April.
It is a sign of the new reality in Washington after Mr. Trump
and House Speaker Paul Ryan failed to persuade the House's most
conservative Republicans, as well as centrists, to back a bill to
replace the Affordable Care Act. The failure derailed the GOP
leadership and the new administration's top legislative priority
and has put unexpected questions before both parties about their
paths forward.
For Republicans leaders, the main challenge is the House Freedom
Caucus, an alliance of the most conservative Republicans who
successfully defied the White House to sink the health bill.
For Democrats, unified opposition to the bill helped give the
party a surprising legislative win and deprived Mr. Trump of an
early victory. Their success in sticking together has left the
party less incentive to compromise with Republicans, who will
likely need them to supply votes for the fiscal measures, as they
often did under Mr. Ryan's predecessor, Speaker John Boehner.
The most immediate test comes at the end of April, when the
government's current funding expires. Lawmakers have only 12
legislative workdays before April 28, the date by which they will
need to pass a new spending bill or trigger a partial government
shutdown. More distantly, Congress must approve an increase in the
nation's debt limit, likely by this fall, and then fund the
government for fiscal 2018, which begins in October.
Some Republicans say they are worried about the prospect of
repeating the experience of 2013, when the party drew most of the
blame for a partial shutdown related to a fight over the health
law.
Asked if chances of a government shutdown were rising, Rep. Tom
Cole (R., Okla.) said, "If we don't get focused on it, there's
always a risk."
"The government can't shut down," he said. "If you have a
Republican Congress shutting down a Republican government, that's
just about as politically stupid as it gets."
"Shutting down the government when you are a Republican Congress
and a Democrat is in the White House was one thing. You could chalk
that up to a disagreement between the parties," Rep. Tom Rooney
(R., Fla.) said in an interview Monday. "But when you control the
House and the Senate and the White House and shut down the
government -- there is no excuse for that at all."
Some Republicans saw Democratic support as one way through the
political minefield.
Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.), a top congressional ally of Mr.
Trump, said he "would not be too surprised" if Democrats supplied
the majority of the votes needed to raise the debt ceiling.
"There's 20 or so [Republicans] that would come to the rescue of
our own party," he said. "If it comes to that, we will do it
again."
Some GOP lawmakers said that while their party's most
conservative members might feel new power to make demands, the
conservative bloc could also splinter amid disagreements over
whether it was wise to block the party's best chance to replace the
Affordable Care Act and deliver on a central campaign promise.
One member of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Ted Poe (R.,
Texas), said Sunday that he had resigned from the bloc of the
party's most conservative members, which includes many who worked
to stop the health bill because they felt it was too tepid in
repealing the ACA. On Monday, Rep. Brian Babin (R., Texas) said he
was contemplating leaving the group out of "frustration" over the
failure of the health bill.
Mr. Collins also suggested a consequence of last week's
health-bill collapse might be to divide the House Freedom
Caucus.
While some Freedom Caucus members are "emboldened" because they
defeated a top leadership priority, Mr. Collins said, "there are
others who are more chastened by what happened and the failure of
Republicans with all the levers to not be able to repeal and
replace Obamacare."
Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments,
said that "collapse of the health-care bill will embolden members
of both parties; neither Trump nor Ryan look as invincible as they
did just a week ago."
"The debt-ceiling extension this summer could rival the health
battle for bitterness and GOP dysfunction," he said. "I can't see
enough votes in the House to raise it without Ryan seeking votes
from [House Democratic Leader] Nancy Pelosi's troops."
Congress agreed in the fall of 2015 to the overall spending
levels of a two-year budget deal that ends in October. But several
political conflicts could be triggered next month, depending on
what else GOP leaders decide to put into the short-term spending
bill.
Mr. Trump has asked for more funding to begin work building a
wall along the border with Mexico, which Senate Democrats have said
they would oppose in the April spending bill. And while Mr. Trump
wants to boost military spending, Democrats have said any increase
in military spending must be matched by a comparable increase in
nonmilitary spending.
Moreover, conservatives are likely to pressure Mr. Ryan to cut
off federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America,
the women's health-care provider, in the spending measure. That
would draw opposition from Democrats and some Senate Republicans,
potentially dooming any spending bill.
Any effort to defund Planned Parenthood "would make the women's
march look like child's play," said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL
Pro-Choice America, referring to the anti-Trump protests in many
cities in January. "You're just going to get backlash," she
said.
Democrats say they won't compromise on core principles in the
course of supporting the fiscal measures or a tax overhaul that is
a top priority of Mr. Trump and his party.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic leader,
said Monday that if Republicans tried to pass "a huge tax break for
the wealthy and already profitable and powerful corporations -- it
will fail."
Democrats said they felt empowered by the turn of events. "We
never have to kowtow to their demands," said Rep. Greg Meeks (D.,
N.Y). He said the Republicans' approach would determine how tough
Democrats need to be in asserting themselves. "I think that the
president should see and the speaker should see they have a choice:
They can rely on the Freedom Caucus to try to get all of their
votes...or they can try to become reasonable and deal with
something that moderates on both sides can come together on."
Republicans could start outreach with a phone call, said
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. "It's extraordinary
how little outreach there has been from Republicans to Democrats,"
he said.
During the Obama administration, conservative lawmakers
frequently opposed borrowing-limit increases as a tool to force
spending cuts or other policy measures, such as a repeal of the
ACA, the 2010 health law passed by Democrats. It isn't clear how
the Republican-controlled Congress would handle such opposition
now, with a Republican president.
Top Democrats on two House committees earlier this month urged
Mr. Trump to swiftly secure an increase in the borrowing limit. "It
is imperative that you, like all of your predecessors, send a clear
message that the United States will continue to pay its debts on
time and in full," said Reps. John Yarmuth (D., Ky.) and Richard
Neal (D., Mass.).
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has also called on Congress to
quickly address the issue.
Apart from the must-pass legislation, Republicans still have
other big-ticket items they hope to finish this year, including an
overhaul of the tax code, which is unlikely to get much Democratic
support. That has been a top priority of Mr. Ryan, the former House
Ways and Means Committee chairman. But on Monday, the White House
said it planned to take the lead.
"Obviously, we're driving the train on this," White House press
secretary Sean Spicer said.
Mr. Spicer told reporters that the White House has "a lot of
folks on the team" working on a tax plan, including Mr. Mnuchin,
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross.
His comments came a day after the top tax writer in the House,
Rep. Kevin Brady, cautioned the White House against assembling its
own proposal. Mr. Brady, the chairman of the Ways and Means
Committee, said House Republicans and the Trump administration have
"so much in common" that they should work together on one
package.
--Nick Timiraos, Michael C. Bender and Richard Rubin contributed
to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 27, 2017 20:47 ET (00:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.