Flight delays and slower Social Security checks. Cuts to financial aid for the poorest college students. And fewer dollars to help families obtain public housing and child care.
As Republicans forge ahead this week in their push to slash billions of dollars in federal spending, the Biden administration is warning Congress that a smaller budget could unleash devastating disruptions to government — underscoring how a political battle in Washington could spell real consequences for Americans nationally.
Since taking over the House, GOP lawmakers have looked to cleave roughly $130 billion from federal agencies and programs in the 2024 fiscal year. Pushing for austerity, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) submitted new demands to President Biden this week, and party lawmakers convened a hearing Wednesday on the country’s fiscal health, aiming to highlight the government’s growing debt, currently at about $31 trillion.
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So far, top Republicans have not coalesced around a final set of spending reductions, but they have made a broad commitment to slim down federal health care, science, education and labor programs while leaving defense untouched. In response, the Biden administration has tried to illustrate the stakes for voters’ daily lives.
If funds at the Department of Health and Human Services are cut, for example, it would have less money for its 988 suicide crisis hotline, potentially diminishing its ability to respond, the agency told lawmakers recently. At the Justice Department, officials warned about “significant furloughs” at the FBI and other key law enforcement agencies, including those that focus on intercepting fentanyl, a GOP priority.
Cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration, that agency said, might mean it struggles to retain air traffic controllers, potentially snarling travel. Biden pointed to the threat Monday, tweeting that the GOP approach would mean “passengers at some large airports would face wait times of two hours or more.” Even the federal government’s work to monitor extreme weather might face financial strain: The Commerce Department, which includes the National Weather Service, predicted its ability to issue “accurate weather forecasts” might be hindered with a smaller budget.
Agencies shared the estimates with a key congressional spending panel — the House Appropriations Committee — at the request of Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.), its top Democrat, who released the details last week. GOP aides largely dismissed the missives as a scare tactic, since Congress is unlikely to impose such blunt, across-the-board cuts.
Yet, DeLauro said, the problem is that the GOP had not yet offered a detailed plan, meaning Democrats have “nothing to go on.”
“I believe that most of my Republican colleagues have no idea of the depth and the level of the cuts we’re talking about,” she said. “More important than the cuts is the consequences in terms of children and families and seniors, national security and veterans.”
The uncertainty raises the stakes for a highly consequential political battle this summer, as Congress stares down two fast-approaching fiscal deadlines that carry vast implications for the U.S. economy.
As Republicans forge ahead this week in their push to slash billions of dollars in federal spending, the Biden administration is warning Congress that a smaller budget could unleash devastating disruptions to government — underscoring how a political battle in Washington could spell real consequences for Americans nationally.
Since taking over the House, GOP lawmakers have looked to cleave roughly $130 billion from federal agencies and programs in the 2024 fiscal year. Pushing for austerity, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) submitted new demands to President Biden this week, and party lawmakers convened a hearing Wednesday on the country’s fiscal health, aiming to highlight the government’s growing debt, currently at about $31 trillion.
ADVERTISING
So far, top Republicans have not coalesced around a final set of spending reductions, but they have made a broad commitment to slim down federal health care, science, education and labor programs while leaving defense untouched. In response, the Biden administration has tried to illustrate the stakes for voters’ daily lives.
If funds at the Department of Health and Human Services are cut, for example, it would have less money for its 988 suicide crisis hotline, potentially diminishing its ability to respond, the agency told lawmakers recently. At the Justice Department, officials warned about “significant furloughs” at the FBI and other key law enforcement agencies, including those that focus on intercepting fentanyl, a GOP priority.
Cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration, that agency said, might mean it struggles to retain air traffic controllers, potentially snarling travel. Biden pointed to the threat Monday, tweeting that the GOP approach would mean “passengers at some large airports would face wait times of two hours or more.” Even the federal government’s work to monitor extreme weather might face financial strain: The Commerce Department, which includes the National Weather Service, predicted its ability to issue “accurate weather forecasts” might be hindered with a smaller budget.
Agencies shared the estimates with a key congressional spending panel — the House Appropriations Committee — at the request of Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.), its top Democrat, who released the details last week. GOP aides largely dismissed the missives as a scare tactic, since Congress is unlikely to impose such blunt, across-the-board cuts.
Yet, DeLauro said, the problem is that the GOP had not yet offered a detailed plan, meaning Democrats have “nothing to go on.”
“I believe that most of my Republican colleagues have no idea of the depth and the level of the cuts we’re talking about,” she said. “More important than the cuts is the consequences in terms of children and families and seniors, national security and veterans.”
The uncertainty raises the stakes for a highly consequential political battle this summer, as Congress stares down two fast-approaching fiscal deadlines that carry vast implications for the U.S. economy.
