Heritage Action calls for GOP to reject Trump spending deal

Conservative group Heritage Action is calling on lawmakers to reject a deal struck among President Trump and congressional Democrats that provides relief funding for Hurricane Harvey while extending government funding and debt limits for three months.

Trump shocked Republicans Wednesday when he agreed to the deal proposed by the Senate and House minority leaders, and right-wing groups including Heritage Action warned GOP members they would be key-voting the short-term spending deal.

“The Trump administration and congressional Republicans agreed to link that much-need emergency spending to a suspension of our nation’s debt ceiling, and the administration ultimately agreed with congressional Democrats that the debt ceiling suspension should last less than three months,” Heritage said Thursday.

{mosads}

The vote puts Republicans in an uncomfortable situation, in which they must either defy the president and publicly vote against a bill funding relief efforts after a storm that devastated hundreds of thousands of Americans, or face the wrath of the conservative advocacy groups and deficit hawks.

The House passed a $7.85 billion relief bill for disaster relief on Wednesday, and the Senate is expected to take up its version this week. The Senate version adds an additional $7.4 billion in block grant funding for areas affected by the disaster, but also incorporated the short-term debt and spending provisions.

Other conservative groups were outraged at the budget deal but avoided blaming Trump directly.

“[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] must be replaced, the Senate leadership must be replaced, and the same goes for the House,” Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli said Wednesday.

Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said the deal was “a fool’s play, a trap, and Republicans should reject it out of hand.”