Representatives working to get appropriations out of committees.
Fiscal year 2023 ends September 30 and a budget agreement for 2024 is unlikely to pass both chambers of Congress before the deadline. The Senate has passed a 45-day temporary funding bill, but House members say it was “dead on arrival,” as representatives work to get appropriations measures out of committees, into floor debate, and ready for votes.
Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, who is pushing for a return to “pre-inflationary” 2022 spending levels, said, “I’m not a shutdown cheerleader by any means. But to me, what’s extreme is a $33 trillion debt with $2 trillion annual deficits on top in an era of rising interest rates, where this debt is going to have to be refinanced because it’s coming off of low-interest financing, and it’s going to be refinanced at a higher rate. That is going to create major cashflow problems for our country. We’re going to be paying more in interest on our national debt and the $886 billion that we’re currently spending on our military.” He also wants to limit government spending growth to 1 percent per year.
Representative Austin Scott of Georgia said, “They’re running a $2 trillion deficit, when there’s literally no reason to run the deficit. And now we’ve got $33 trillion in debt and the interest rate on that debt is no longer two and a half percent. Now, it’s 5%. We cannot ignore the deficit. We cannot ignore the debt. We do it at the peril of the next generation.”
Four of the 12 appropriations bills under consideration could come to a House vote before the weekend is over, and those four represent around 73 percent of total discretionary spending.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for members of the House as they navigate differences in funding priorities.
- For Speaker McCarthy as he tries to create consensus among representatives to fund the government.
- For God’s purposes to be accomplished through the actions of Congress.
Sources: Just The News, CBS
