You Can’t Win a Budget Battle You’re Not Willing to Fight

Congressman Andy Biggs  |  Sep 21, 2024 

 

Concerning the recent House funding plan: Was it that Schumer bring the SAVE Act to the floor of the Senate to allow Senators to vote on it? Or, was the plan simply to allow Republicans to talk about the SAVE Act and how much Democrats don’t want to protect Americans from illegal immigration, whether it’s the fentanyl pouring across our border, terrorists and criminal gang members flooding the nation, or preventing illegal aliens from voting in our elections? 

Let’s analyze the recent failure of the Continuing Resolution + SAVE plan to see if we can tease out what the plan must have been.

House Republicans did not demand that the Senate pass or even vote on the SAVE Act; the Speaker merely attached the SAVE Act to the big spending CR. Was this in order to actually get the SAVE Act passed? Or, was it simply to provide a talking point? Or, was it an inducement to some Republicans to vote for the bill?

It must have been a bluff, right? Here’s why one might reach that conclusion. If the Speaker and House Republicans truly desired that the SAVE Act receive a Senate vote, and more pointedly, be passed and sent to the desk of Joe Biden for consideration, the Speaker would have voiced that demand. He would have been jawboning for that during the seven-week recess. In fact, he would have demanded that the last week in July. 

The Speaker never, to my knowledge publicly or behind closed doors, stated that his objective was to actually see that the SAVE Act was passed…or, even got a Senate vote. 

Further, someone who really, truly wanted the SAVE Act would not have weakened his position. He would not have foreclosed any stick or carrot to obtain his objective. But, the Speaker said he would never shut the government down. In fact, by sending Schumer the CR + SAVE, the Speaker actually gave Schumer a continuation of the spending levels and policies that Schumer and Leftists want.

The CR continued the open border policies like CBP One and the special recruitment of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. The CR perpetuated all of the Green New Deal package, including subsidies for Democrat cronies and onerous regulations driving up prices on American energy. The CR provided sustained support for Planned Parenthood and its practice of late-term abortions. Funding for the ATF’s attack on gunowners would continue in the CR. In short, these and every other weaponized government program was in the CR.

And the spending level of the CR would have added nearly $1.5 trillion in new national debt. These are things that Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats would have a hard time saying “no” to. 

But the Speaker’s plan wasn’t to withhold giving Schumer a continuation of these policies and spending levels until Schumer delivered the SAVE Act, it was the Speaker’s plan to give this horrible CR with the ongoing spending and abhorrent policies to the Senate Majority Leader without conditions.

Attaching the SAVE Act to the CR, without conditions, meant that Schumer could drop the SAVE Act and still accept the CR. Schumer could have also used other vehicles in the Senate to send back the exact same CR without the SAVE Act.

What would the Speaker have done then? He wouldn’t have fought for the SAVE Act. How do we know this? Because he hasn’t fought for it. He didn’t withhold the CR until the SAVE Act received passage or a vote. In fact, the Speaker said he wouldn’t do anything that might lead to a “shutdown” of spending.

So, no conditions, no carrots, no sticks, and a promise not to use the most potent leverage. 

The only conclusion left is that the proponents of the CR + SAVE plan were cynically attempting to produce a talking point.

But we already had the talker because the House Republicans plus five Democrats voted the SAVE Act out of the House months ago. We have been talking about and demanding that the Senate vote on it for months. 

Some might say, “But we were attaching the SAVE Act to the CR.” Yes, but Schumer could simply remove the SAVE Act and approve the CR. And the Speaker would acquiesce to that because he has said no shutdown, no matter what. 

Republicans are winning the argument on border security. A super majority of Americans know the border is a crisis made by Democrats like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Alejandro Mayorkas.

Democrats voted just this week to prevent deportation of sexual predators and criminals who prey upon women. 

We didn’t need another talker for Americans to know that Trump and the Republicans are the party that will secure the border. Americans are with us.

Americans don’t want illegal aliens voting in their elections. We’ve had that talking point and policy initiative with the SAVE Act long before CR time.

What Americans needed was a willingness to fight to get the SAVE Act passed. And you don’t win a fight that you aren’t fighting. And, giving Schumer his spending and his policies without condition isn’t fighting, its capitulation. It is the easy way. It is the way Congress operates.