Empower Wisconsin | Dec. 13, 2022

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON —As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned senators on Monday to be prepared to pass a one-week funding stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown, Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany says congress should back off on a spending bill until next month, when the new congress takes over.

The Republican, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, expects the Democrat-controlled House will easily pass a massive appropriations bill. It’s in the more deliberative Senate where there’s a real chance to slow down the spending train.

“I think Senator (Mitch) McConnell should lay down the gauntlet and say, ‘No, we’re going to push this off until January when the new congress comes in,’” Tiffany said, referring to the Kentucky Republican and Senate Minority Leader. “The American people would say it should not be a lame duck congress passing this spending blowout.”

Republicans in last month’s elections took back the House, while the Democrats will keep a slim majority in the Senate — even with U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)  leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an Independent.

Schumer said he expected “quick action” on a continuing resolution to give negotiators “more time to finish a full funding bill before the holidays.”

White House officials sounded confident a funding deal could be brokered to avoid a government shutdown.

Tiffany said taxpayers want the federal government to get back to fiscal accountability. He said the Republican Study Committee, of which Tiffany is a member, has proposed a balanced budget.

“We need to have that plan ready to go when the new congress begins,” Tiffany said. “That’s one of the things we should be leading with in congress, to take it to the House of Representatives and get it passed. We need to put our marker down, that we believe fiscal responsibility is important to the American people.”