With no plausible plan left, they still claimed they really, really wanted to reduce deficits, with some even saying they would default on U.S. debt if they didn’t get their way. President Biden needed to cave, they said. Cave on what? That wasn’t clear, but he needed to tear up whatever budget he wanted and agree to something that the GOP blessed.
In the end, Biden and House Republicans resolved the drama by agreeing to a budget deal. The deal was somewhat underwhelming; it would keep funding for most government programs basically flat or unchanged (in some cases even a bit higher). Republicans also agreed not to include any new partisan, nonbudgetary “riders” — i.e., no legislative language related to hot-button issues (abortion, race, guns, climate change) that might derail a bill.
It was a plan to avoid financial Armageddon and move on to the grunt work of governing. With this framework, Congress might even finally be able to pass all its annual spending bills before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. This would represent the first time in nearly three decades that Congress might fund the government on time, without requiring any deadline extensions, stopgap funding measures or government shutdowns.
But House Republicans kaboomed all those commitments, too.
Almost immediately, Republican lawmakers began reneging on every part of the deal they had wrung out of Biden, as catalogued this month by Bobby Kogan and Jean Ross at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. The House GOP began writing bills that had deeper cuts to domestic spending programs than anyone had agreed to, for instance. Head Start, as well as a nutrition program for babies in low-income households and a program ensuring states have clean drinking water, were all placed on the chopping block.
Despite that no-rider commitment, Republican lawmakers also littered bills with poison pills to ensure they wouldn’t pass. For example, members of the House Freedom Caucus crammed measures relating to race, the LGBTQ+ community, abortion access and climate-change mitigation into the traditionally bipartisan defense bill.
These House budget bills proved so objectionable that they could not secure sufficient support even among Republicans.
At the last minute on Wednesday, GOP House leaders stopped a vote on their own defense bill from going to the floor. Leadership has also reportedly abandoned efforts to pass its divisive agricultural appropriations bill, which had already been scheduled and delayed earlier this summer.
The House GOP’s other spending bills aren’t exactly on schedule, either, and the number of legislative days ahead of the Oct. 1 deadline is running short. So neither the planned funding levels nor the planned schedule is likely to keep.
House Republicans have a couple of choices left. One, they can agree to a “continuing resolution,” which would temporarily extend spending levels according to priorities set by last year’s Congress (i.e., their Democratic predecessors). Or two, they can shut down the government entirely.
Unsurprisingly, the latter option looks increasingly likely. Some in the party’s far-right flank are already threatening to oust Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his speakership if he even puts a “clean” short-term spending patch up for a vote.
But if there is a federal shutdown, that will likely cost — not save — the government money in the long run, based on experience from prior shutdowns. It might also drag on the economy.
And in terms of politics, any government shutdown or House leadership fight is likely to conclude with the Democratic-controlled Senate — which has been chugging along with its own spending bills — more empowered to negotiate funding levels.
None of these outcomes sound like GOP priorities. Unless Republicans’ top priority is to nuke everyone’s priorities, including their own.
Credit: Source link
