Mulvaney shreds new House-GOP rules: If you think this is ‘life-changing,’ you don’t ‘understand Washington’
Republican-led House Rules passed Monday with 220-213 vote
If you think Republican House rules will be ‘life-changing,’ you don’t ‘understand Washington’: Mulvaney
Former Trump White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney says not to expect a balanced budget or 'dramatic' spending cuts after the House passes its new rules package.
After House Republicans passed their blueprint on how the GOP will run the chamber Monday night, President Trump’s former acting chief of staff cautioned against expectations of a "life-changing" policy transition.
"They're not going to balance the budget. They're not going to get dramatic spending cuts. Might they get bits and pieces as part of a negotiation with the Democrats? Yes, and that's the way it should work," Mick Mulvaney told FOX Business host Neil Cavuto. "But I think anybody who thinks that this is going to be a life-changing experience or transformational, just doesn't understand Washington."
On "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Tuesday, Mulvaney weighed in on the impact of the House's new rules package, which aims to overhaul the way it functions by putting up more barriers to congressional spending and creating a more deliberate process for passing legislation - key demands of the more conservative members of the Republican Party.
The rules passed with a 220-213 vote that saw just one Republican, Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, vote against it. It also marked newly-elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first major test in the top position.
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But, according to Trump administration official and economist Mulvaney, many are ignoring that Republicans only control one-third of the policymaking machine.
House Republicans' new House rules won't be a "life-changing" or "transformational" experience, former Trump White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (AP Newsroom)
"They control the House. They don't control the Senate. They don't control the White House. There is no chance, no chance that major Republican legislation is going to get passed," Mulvaney said. "The first and primary role that the Republicans play in the House right now is to be a check-and-balance against the Biden administration."
Republican lawmakers will still have to garner support from Democrats to pass future bills which push the GOP agenda forward, like boosting defense spending, according to the former White House official.
"It's the classic sort of conundrum and the game that Democrats have played for as long as you and I've been following this business, which is that if we want increased defense spending, which we do generally as a party, if we want that, the price of that is increased social welfare spending," Mulvaney explained. "That's the dynamic in Washington, D.C."
But on "Fox News Sunday" this past weekend, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said there’s room to cut spending in every sector and teased pulling back on military spending, in what Mulvaney believes is a reverse-card play on Democrats.
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"When they say that for the first time in the mainstream of the party, they want to start looking at defense cuts, I think that's the reason: they want to try and break that sort of extortionary connection that Democrats have made between defense spending and social welfare spending, which would be very difficult to do," Mulvaney said. "I think that the rate of growth might come down in the next couple of years, but you're not going to see real cuts."
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Since joining the GOP, Mulvaney expressed "it’s been against the rules" to consider cutting defense spending, but reminded that the new rules package only opens the budget proposal to a good, old-fashioned vote.
"What they agreed to in the rules package was a vote on a balanced budget. This goes back to some conservative concerns during previous leadership when the Republican Study Committee and House Freedom Caucus budgets weren't even allowed to be voted on," he explained. "They want to have the vote. That doesn't mean it has to pass. In fact, it's unlikely to pass, but it will start the debate."
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McCarthy and his team are considering a push to limit discretionary funding in the next fiscal year to FY 2022 levels, but some have insisted that does not mean a cut to defense programs.
Republican Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have said that goal would not mean cuts to defense spending.
"But now that the town is different, the attitude about the debt is different. The debate is going to be there," Mulvaney said. "I think that's healthy, and I think that's a win that these 20 folks got last week in the rules package."
Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.