The complaints come in response House Democrats providing cover fire for President Biden’s budget and the upcoming debt ceiling political dance….
Agencies across the government are sounding the alarm over the potential impact of steep spending cuts included in a Republican-backed proposal.
Officials from nearly 20 agencies — including from departments of State, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, Education and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Social Security Administration — wrote letters over the past several weeks warning of what a return to 2022 spending levels would mean for their offices next year.
The letters were in response to requests made in January by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, for information on how capping discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels would affect their agencies.
House Republicans have yet to release their official budget plan. But the letters come as Republicans have voiced support for budget caps, with hardline conservatives pushing to restrict discretionary funding for fiscal year 2024 at the 2022 threshold, while keeping defense funding at current levels.
Among some of the wide-ranging potential effects highlighted by DeLauro’s office in a release on Monday are reduced access to rental assistance for more than 600,000 families, the shuttering of 125 Air Traffic Control Towers in a drawdown that could impact “one-third of all airports,” and a sharp reduction in rail safety jobs that could mean “30,000 fewer miles of track inspected annually.”….