House Speaker McCarthy to bring Congress spending back to 2022 levels

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 Jan 2023 23:19

The cut is estimated to be at least a $130 billion, or a 17% cut which will have severe repercussions on Veterans medical care, among other public benefits.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., center, walks from the House floor on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

House Appropriations Committee (HAC) Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro said on Tuesday that Speaker Kevin McCarthy's deal to win the speakership includes capping 2024 government spending at 2022 levels, which could potentially mean a $75 billion cut in defense spending.

She said that the process through which Republican Kevin McCarthy went to earn the speakership was "unprecedented" and underlined the dangerousness of agreements intended to short-circuit the 2024 appropriations process to fund the US government in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.

"[This] chaotic process is unprecedented and it is also dangerous, attempting to short circuit the 2024 appropriations process [to fund the federal government]," De Lauro told a briefing of House Democratic leaders on Tuesday.

.@RosadDeLauro hits #McCarthy and Republicans plan to bring spending back to 2022 levels:

"To take the veterans programs back to 2022 would short-change VA medical care by at least $31 billion."

I hope that gavel was worth it Kevin. pic.twitter.com/imkccqqz0w
— Kelsie Taggart (@kelsientaggart) January 10, 2023

She slammed McCarthy for promising to cap spending at 2022 levels in exchange for votes, and said the new Speaker "traded funding that helps communities, that protects our national security, for personal gain."

The cut, she says, is estimated to be "at least a $130 billion [or] 17% cut. [It will] short change veterans' medical care by at least $31 billion [or] 30% below what we just enacted in December," DeLauro said.

De Lauro added that the insistence on cutting spending down to 2022 levels could amount to serious cuts to law enforcement funding across the US.