Trump’s budget chief talks spending clawback with key chairman

President Trump’s budget chief met with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) on Friday to discuss a White House proposal to claw back some of the federal spending increases that Congress passed last month.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told The Hill that the administration is still working out the details of a package of rescissions that will rescind some of the funding hikes that were recently adopted in the 2018 omnibus spending bill.

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“We’re probably going to start meeting on the details early next week,” Mulvaney told The Hill, before heading into the meeting in Frelinghuysen’s office in the Capitol building.

The meeting comes several days after Frelinghuysen told reporters that there had been no communication with the White House about the rescissions proposal.

The package is expected to come in several pieces, the first of which could land on Capitol Hill early next month. It would then need to be approved by both chambers with a simple majority vote. 

The effort to claw back federal spending comes after conservative members balked over the price tag of the $1.3 trillion omnibus. Trump briefly threatened to veto the funding package, but ultimately signed the bill, though he made clear he was unhappy with the legislation.

Proponents say the rescission package could give Republicans an opportunity to boost their fiscal credentials ahead of a difficult midterm election cycle. 

But there is concern among Democrats and Republican appropriators that utilizing the maneuver could hinder their ability to negotiate deals across the aisle in the future.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it would be ill-advised for Republicans to walk back on the deal they made with Democrats, telling Fox News, “You can’t make an agreement one month and say, ‘OK, we really didn’t mean it.’”