GOP budget chairmen will not review the president's final budget
The GOP chairmen of the House and Senate Budget Committees have decided not to review President Obama's final budget request to Congress.
In a joint statement on Friday, Rep. Tom Price, R-Georgia and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming said that they would not hold their annual hearings to review the fiscal 2017 budget with Office and Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan.
Both lawmakers said Mr. Obama's budgets have never balanced and have never addressed the nation's fiscal challenges or have tackled the government's overspending. They suggested that Republicans in Congress should spend their limited time in session wisely by focusing instead on crafting their own budget blueprint.
"Rather than spend time on a proposal that, if anything like this Administration's previous budgets, will double down on the same failed policies that have led to the worst economic recovery in modern times, Congress should continue our work on building a budget that balances and that will foster a healthy economy," Price said.
On Tuesday morning, the White House will release the president's final budget request for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. The administration has already unveiled some of the proposals that are wrapped inside, such as funding requests for the cancer "moonshot" initiative and for career help for young people.
Budgets offered by the president of an opposing political party are usually dead-on-arrival in Congress, but lawmakers have at least spent time reviewing them in the past. But because it's a presidential election year, lawmakers are in session for fewer days and will break for their annual summer recess earlier than usual because of the nominating conventions.
Given the time constraints, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, is aiming to hold a vote on a budget by early March. Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have already been protesting the spending levels that the president already signed into law for the next fiscal year.
The GOP budget will be more of a blueprint that Republicans can point to during the election. Last year marked the first time in a decade that Republicans adopted a bicameral budget agreement.