That plan cooked up by the popular vote loser and his mini-mes in the House and the administration to undo large chunks of the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package is moving forward, even though both House and Senate Republicans have said they don't want it. The ring-leader of the fiasco in the administration will come as no surprise.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney — himself a former congressman — is taking the lead on developing the rollback proposal, according to eight current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House. The White House expects to release it around May 1, according to one administration official.
These officials anticipate the White House could propose slashing anywhere from $30 billion to $60 billion dollars from the $1.3 trillion dollar spending bill passed for this year—even as Republican lawmakers are openly asking the president not to re-open the negotiations.
Mulvaney has all the jobs—he's squatting at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in order to destroy the agency, he elbowed his way into the Treasury Department to wrest away responsibility for writing the regulations for the new tax law, and now he's trying to replace all of the Congress. He does have help.
Aiding Mulvaney is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is vying to replace Rep. Paul Ryan as he retires from his leadership position as speaker of the House. But Rep. Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, is also interested in the job—potentially complicating the process of trying to cut money from the spending bill, as both men try to curry favor with the president and within their own caucus. Any cuts would also have to pass muster in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 majority.
Never mind the Senate, they have to get enough House Republicans to do it, and risk having a very bruising fight—on top of the fight for the speakership—within the conference to get there.
Some Republicans have preemptively warned the White House not to try to re-open the omnibus bill. House Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said it would amount to Trump going back on his word and veteran appropriator Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told POLITICO the idea is "unrealistic and dangerous."
Then there's the Senate, where it would take a simple majority vote under rescission rules, but the simple majority is not there. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have blasted the idea and Whip John Thune (R-SD), speaking for leadership, says they don't want to make Republicans take another "tough vote." They don't want to make passing the next spending bill—due in September—even harder to pass by blowing the whole Congress up with this one. Because the absolute last thing Republicans want is a shutdown fight just weeks before the midterm election.
Mulvaney, McCarthy and Trump clearly don't care.