The Obama administration drew a pretty hard line yesterday, telling Congress that Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget includes spending levels that break a bipartisan deal, and if GOP lawmakers don’t back down, they’ll force a government shutdown later this year.
Acting White House Budget Director Jeff Zients wrote to the heads of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on Wednesday to lay down the threat.
“Until the House of Representatives indicates that it will abide by last summer’s agreement, the President will not be able to sign any appropriations bills,” the letter states.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers’s (R-Ky.) office said the “hollow” threat would not deter the committee and said refusal to sign spending bills would mean Obama was choosing to shut down the government.
This may seem like routine saber rattling, and it’s possible the posturing won’t amount to much in the coming months. But there’s also a real possibility that we’re headed for a major confrontation.
For those just joining us, these spending levels weren’t supposed to be controversial at all. Last summer, as part of the debt-ceiling crisis, Democrats and Republicans agreed to spending levels for the upcoming year, clearing the way for a smooth budget process. After all, with the figures already locked in, the most contentious part of the process was already addressed. As far as everyone was concerned, a deal’s a deal.
Then House Republican leaders, pushed by their more extreme caucus, decided to break the deal — and that has set the stage for a potential crisis.









