FreedomWorks warned Republicans that conservatives will not support a “clean” debt limit increase in a memo obtained by POLITICO. | John Shinkle/POLITICO FreedomWorks memo warns against 'clean' debt ceiling increase The Tea Party advocacy group warns the Trump administration against any measure that raises the federal borrowing limit without including spending cuts.

The tea party advocacy group FreedomWorks wants Congress and the White House to know that its support doesn’t come for free — especially with the upcoming legislative fights over raising the debt ceiling and tax reform.

In an internal FreedomWorks memo obtained by POLITICO, the group’s vice president of legislative affairs, Jason Pye, warned Republicans that conservatives will not support a “clean” debt limit increase — that is, one without any spending cuts attached. That’s a policy move that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has pushed recently in an effort to dampen any potential Republican-on-Republican warring over government spending.


Instead, conservatives want spending cuts or policy riders or some type of regulatory reform attached to any bill that raises the debt ceiling by Sept. 29, when the Treasury Department is scheduled to run out of money to pay the government’s bills.

If they don’t get something in exchange and Republicans opt to pass a clean debt ceiling bill with the support of Democrats, Pye argues in his eight-page memo that the White House’s other priorities will suffer.

“This approach would further demoralize conservative grassroots activists after the failure of Obamacare repeal and the lack of significant legislative victories from a Republican-controlled Congress,” Pye writes.

“This puts the White House’s agenda in jeopardy at a time when conservative engagement and support are absolutely necessary to pass fundamental tax reform at the end of 2017,” he went on.

The memo hints at the brewing frustrations among various factions of Republicans — from tea party activists to the establishment — disappointed that so few of their priorities have been realized since President Donald Trump took office in January.

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Attempts to repeal Obamacare died in the Senate, and despite a flurry of executive orders, the president’s biggest victories so far have been limited to overturning more than a dozen Obama-era regulations and appointing a conservative Supreme Court justice.

Activists expect much more. “If you don’t bring conservatives on board, let’s understand what you’re risking,” Pye said on a phone conversation on Thursday afternoon.

But conservatives face an uphill battle when it comes to the debt ceiling battle. Republican leaders will likely need Democratic votes to pass the legislation, and Democrats will be loath to sign anything with spending cuts or policy demands.

Trump has made the task harder by alienating Republicans on the Hill. He spent part of Thursday morning picking fights on Twitter with the very congressional leaders, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose support he will need to smoothly get through a debt ceiling battle or tax overhaul.

And the White House has been positioning Congress as the leader on the debt ceiling talks — and the ones who would take the fall if it does not go well. “Look, it’s our job to inform Congress of the debt ceiling, and it’s their job to raise it,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at Thursday’s briefing.

Pye sent the memo to House offices and the White House on Wednesday to lay out FreedomWorks’ position on the upcoming debt ceiling negotiations, which should dominate the 12 legislative days in September — along with passing a budget.

His ideas for Republicans include demanding spending caps or cuts to both mandatory and discretionary spending; capping federal outlays as a percentage of the gross domestic product and requiring a balanced budget amendment to be submitted to the states; or capping federal spending at a set figure, while demanding a required 1 percent reduction in federal spending for five years to balance the federal budget.

Also on the table: Enticing conservatives with one of the House’s regulatory reform bills that it has already passed, particularly the REINS Act and Regulatory Accountability Act, which would amend the Congressional Review Act to ensure that economically significant rules are subject to congressional approval.

Pye stressed that the four options he outlined in the memo were just ideas to kick off the conversation. He also expressed concern that congressional leaders do not seem to have a concrete plan for dealing with the debt ceiling apart from following the administration’s lead — an option that’s anathema to conservatives.

“No one is seeking these ideas. We have not been asked by House leadership,” he said. “Conservatives are frustrated.”

Although the Treasury secretary typically runs point on the debt ceiling negotiations, Pye said he would have preferred that former House Republican Mick Mulvaney, a founding member of the Freedom Caucus and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, take the lead.

“I don’t think Secretary Mnuchin understands the politics of the situation or how Congress really works,” Pye said.

