Tea Party group demands CR cut spending below 2013

{mosads}The government faces a shutdown on Oct 1. and a potential default by mid-October, according to the Treasury Department.

Republicans and Democrats had entertained some willingness to extend current spending, at a rate of $988 billion per year, for several months while the debt ceiling and detailed appropriations bills are hammered out. 

So far, the policy debate has been between conservatives who want the CR to defund all of ObamaCare and centrists who warn that insisting on that could cause the GOP to be blamed for a government shutdown. Failure to agree on a unified GOP position could force the majority to rely on House Democrats to keep the government open and could weaken the majority’s bargaining position. 

Now, Americans for Prosperity says the CR must adhere to the $967 billion level of spending dictated by sequestration for 2014 and enshrined in Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget, rather than the $988 billion current level.

“On behalf of more than two million Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states, I am writing to inform you that it is AFP’s intention to urge a NO vote on a continuing resolution if that resolution establishes discretionary budget authority for any portion of fiscal year 2014 above $967 billion, the level that was already agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA),” wrote AFP’s James Valvo.

“Passing a so-called date-change continuing resolution at the current levels, even for a short time, will be a spending increase when compared to the BCA caps,” he added.

Passing a resolution at $967 billion could be difficult for defense hawks in the House GOP. Ryan’s budget reached that level by adding funds to Defense while deeply cutting social programs. 

A continuing resolution at Ryan’s levels would also likely run into trouble in the Senate, where Senate Democrats have made ending sequestration cuts a top priority. The Senate Appropriations Committee has passed bills that conform to a top-line $1.058 trillion level of spending.