Dozens of Republican lawmakers on Friday voted down a proposal to chop congressional funding by 1 percent, which was offered by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., in order to help cut the more than $500 billion annual budget deficit.
The House rejected her amendment to the congressional spending bill in a 165-237 vote that saw 73 Republicans vote against it, despite Blackburn’s plea for help to find a way to put the nation’s finances in order.
“This bill provides a net total of $3.482 billion in fiscal year 2017 base discretionary budget authority,” Blackburn said in floor debate on Thursday. While that level is $153 million under President Obama’s request, it’s $73 million more than current spending levels, and said there is “more work that needs to be done.”
Her amendment would have cut spending outlays by another $28 million, and she said as tough as those cuts might be, Congress needs to do what it can to help reduce the $19.2 trillion national debt.
“I have heard many times that cuts like this are damaging and we shouldn’t do them, but I think that cutting an extra penny on every dollar not only goes to putting us on a better track, it helps to preserve our nation’s sovereignty for future generations,” she said.
But her plan was only accepted by roughly two-thirds of House Republicans, which split 161-73 on the vote. Democrats were also opposed, and all but four of them agreed with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s argument that the cuts go too far.
“I strongly oppose this amendment, as it takes a meat-ax approach to cutting this bill by $31 million with an across-the-board cut of 1 percent,” she said Thursday.
Blackburn has been pushing a 1 percent cut to key spending bills for years, and has continued to bump up against opposition from her own GOP colleagues.
A year ago, Blackburn offered the same amendment to the same legislative spending bill, and it received just 172 votes in favor, less than what she got this year. In 2015, 72 Republicans voted against the cut, one less than Friday’s vote.
In 2014, the House voted down her plan to cut funding for the Departments of Commerce and Justice by 1 percent, and that idea failed 148-253.
And way back in 2011, only 150 lawmakers voted for her proposal to cut energy and water spending by 1 percent.
