GOP leaders enlist Pence, Mulvaney to help with budget woes – Politico

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will be calling on his rabble-rousing friends and former colleagues to get in line behind a House budget proposal. | Getty

Republicans hope lobbying from key White House conservatives will ease opposition from the hard-line House Freedom Caucus.

By Rachael Bade and Sarah Ferris

07/13/2017 02:15 PM EDT

Updated 07/13/2017 06:20 PM EDT

House GOP leaders are bringing in the big guns to help ease their budget woes: Vice President Mike Pence and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.

Pence and Mulvaney committed Thursday to helping GOP leaders muster support among their divided conference to pass a fiscal 2018 budget. Republican leadership and House Budget Chairwoman Diane Black are hoping that Mulvaney will be particularly helpful in wooing his former colleagues and friends on the hard-line Freedom Caucus, where he was once a member.

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The Freedom Caucus' opposition has the potential to be one of the greatest hurdles to passing the budget, which is crucial if Republicans want to pass tax reform on a party-line vote. Caucus leaders, who have pushed hard to include mandatory cuts to welfare programs in the budget, have said they will not support the fiscal plan until they also get the details of the Houses tax reform proposal.

But tax reform details are still far off, insiders say. And GOP leaders, not to mention Black, are eager to move on the budget before the August recess.

Its frustrating in a sense that theyre demanding that we stay here [through August recess] and work, which is fine with me, but they're not working while were here, said Budget panel member Tom Cole (R-Oakla.) of the Freedom Caucus threat to block the budget without tax details. I just think thats unrealistic Theyre not necessarily related."

The Vice President's office confirmed that Pence would be on the Hill to help get the budget passed. An Office of Management and Budget official confirmed that Mulvaney would be "working the phones" as well as making in-person pitches.

"The White House wants to be helpful in any way it can," OMB spokesman John Czwartacki said by phone Thursday. "The White House sees tremendous value on a 2018 budget resolution passing both chambers of Congress."

Black set out early to woo conservatives, even taking on GOP leadership as well as other Republican committee chairs to include $200 billion in entitlement cuts. Many moderates have balked at the proposal, with as many as 20 centrist Republicans in the Tuesday Group threatening to vote against such a plan almost enough to block it.

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Still, some Freedom Caucus members say those cuts are not enough. Vice chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) suggested during a news conference Wednesday that $200 billion in mandatory cuts was, essentially, a rounding error compared to the nations larger spending issues.

Meadows also said the group would need to see the details of the tax plan. They're wary of Speaker Paul Ryan's proposal to increase taxes on imports to pay for other tax cuts and want assurances the so-called border adjustment is dead.

Without decisions on tax reform, there will not be enough votes to pass it in the House because of the conservative concerns, Meadows said.

Enter the White House. Mulvaney and Pence huddled Thursday morning with Ryan (R-Wis.), Black (R-Tenn.) and White House legislative liaison Marc Short to devise a strategy to get Black's budget passed. That plan includes talking not just to members of the Freedom Caucus but any recalcitrant Republicans to get the 218 votes needed on the floor.

The meeting followed several calls between Mulvaney and Black this weekend.

Several GOP sources following the budget process closely said they think the White House's pitch for opponents to back the budget will work, allowing Black to move the bill through committee as soon as next week. Two members of the committee, Reps. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, told POLITICO on Wednesday that they were told to expect a Budget Committee markup next week.

Mulvaney and Pence's first task will be helping Black move the bill through the panel, where some conservatives like Reps. Dave Brat (R-Va.) and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), both Freedom Caucus members, have not yet committed to supporting the plan.

Palmer in an interview off the House floor Thursday said he wanted the budget to rein in more spending.

Im still looking at it. I think theres time to improve it," Palmer said, when asked if he'd support the budget. "At some point everybodys got to come to the realization that were on a path to fiscal disaster."

Palmer, however, might be one of the easier conservatives to win over: He does not agree with his fellow Freedom Caucus members who say they want to hold up the budget in order to squeeze out the details of tax reform.

"The Freedom Caucus doesnt speak for all its members," he said. "I think that the tax reform effort is a separate issue. I dont believe in holding something else hostage."

Palmer also praised Black for her work, saying he can't remember the last time a budget was crafted to trigger billions in cuts.

Brat said he couldn't back a budget without more tax details.

"How do you get corporate rates down when you're minus a few trillion [in deficits]? We have to know the answer to that question because tax reform is the Holy Grail," he said. "I am not able to take a budget vote until I know how all the big trillion-dollar pieces fit together."

Even if Mulvany and Pence are able to help Black move the budget out of committee next week, they'll have an even heavier lift with the rest of the conference. Freedom Caucus members have not yet taken a position on the issue, but they could soon.

"Why arent we seeing the tax plan? I think [our opposition is] a move to try to spur things along," said Freedom Caucus member Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.). "Its a shame we would have to do that but weve got to keep things moving."

To be sure, Ryan, the White House and Senate leaders have indeed begun working on a tax bill. But right now, those discussions and decisions are being made at a high level not with the rest of the conference.

The Freedom Caucus would like to have input in those discussions.

Asked about Mulvaney whipping the Freedom Caucus, Meadows on Thursday gave a hearty laugh off the House floor.

"We're not voting for the budget until we get all those other things done, and Mick Mulvany can come up here and we can have nice lunch ... and it ain't gonna change a single vote," Meadows said.

Meadows then called Mulvaney to press him on his intentions to whip the Freedom Caucus into passing the budget. He said Mulvaney denied that was his intention.

Alyssa Farah, a spokeswoman for the Freedom Caucus, said: "Chairman Meadows has a great degree of respect for Director Mulvaney and always appreciates his input on policy matters."

And that's just the conservative end of the House GOP conference.

GOP leaders and the White House will also have to presuade moderates in the Tuesday Group to back the budget. A few weeks ago, members of the group said they wouldn't vote for a fiscal blueprint until Republicans strike a broader spending deal with Democrats, which seems a world away amid the partisan rancor on Capitol Hill.

In other words, Pence, Mulvaney and Ryan have some serious work to do.

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GOP leaders enlist Pence, Mulvaney to help with budget woes - Politico