I don’t know that you can accurately call what the House Republicans are attempting with the budget a “strategy,” but anything that delusional will eventually collapse from the weight of its own stupidity. Consider that 73 senators just voted for cloture on Barbara Mikulski’s Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. And then consider that the Senate bill costs $10 billion (or about 25%) more than the House version. Overall, the Senate is planning on spending $91 billion more than the House.
But the real delusion is on military spending. If the House doesn’t come to some compromise with the Senate, military spending will be gutted and most of the domestic cuts will be undone.
What makes the Ryan budget doubly difficult is it lowers total spending while also tilting the remaining funds to the Pentagon at the expense of nondefense programs.
Total appropriations fall to $967 billion even as defense spending is restored to $552 billion — about $33 billion above post-sequester levels. To make room, nondefense spending must drop then to approximately $414.4 billion.
That’s a 12 percent cut on top of the reductions made in sequestration and far deeper than what was anticipated in the 2011 BCA. But without some compromise, the BCA will reassert itself this winter with the opposite result.
Domestic appropriations will be largely untouched. Defense will be reduced to $498 billion or $54 billion less than what the House is proposing.
Before this is over, I predict that John McCain will punch some Republican colleague in the neck.
