Yes, House Republicans are mainly to blame for this mess. They have been engaging in so much infighting that they can’t manage to pass budget bills with just GOP votes. They ousted their last speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), after he used some Democratic votes to pass legislation averting a shutdown that would have begun on Oct. 1 and setting the new, fast-approaching deadline: Nov. 17. Mr. Johnson now finds himself facing a similar predicament to the one that undid Mr. McCarthy. There’s much to dislike about Mr. Johnson’s plan for navigating the House Republicans’ internal divisions while preventing a shutdown, including its ungainly nickname, “a laddered continuing resolution.” As the moniker suggests, the plan would pass one short-term package to fund the military and veterans programs, agriculture and food agencies, and the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development until Jan. 19 and another to fund everything else until Feb. 2.
This sets up an ugly spending fight early next year, and it offers no additional aid for Israel and Ukraine — which the Biden administration urgently wants. Gimmicky as it is, though, Mr. Johnson’s proposed two-step increasingly looks like the best of many terrible options. Passing something like it averts a crisis and keeps the government funded at current levels through the holidays. It would also give the new speaker a very small victory as he gears up for tougher fights ahead. Getting the big funding bill done (for now) would let Congress use the rest of the year to focus on Israel and Ukraine. In short, it buys time for veteran lawmakers to try to find a way forward between two groups: far-right House Republicans, who say they will vote only for budget bills that slash domestic programs by at least 8 percent, and pretty much everyone else, who prefer to stick with the deal President Biden and Mr. McCarthy made in May. That agreement would keep spending essentially unchanged in 2024.
Senate Democrats are wise to express “openness” to this House GOP idea. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he supports it. House Democrats and the White House, at least behind closed doors, should do the same.
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues and the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the world needs U.S. leadership. Shutting down the government, even briefly, would create a distraction for the Biden administration and undercut this nation’s credibility. On top of that, the U.S. creditworthiness is at stake. All three of the top credit rating agencies have now cited U.S. political dysfunction — including repeated shutdowns or near-shutdowns — as a reason to think twice about the nation’s future ability to manage its debts. The last near-shutdown, in September, triggered higher borrowing costs for weeks. If Republicans truly want to cut costs, they could start by avoiding these crises.
The two-tiered spending bill idea actually came from members of the House Freedom Caucus. They saw it as a way to get an upper hand against Democrats in negotiations. Now many Freedom Caucus members are irate about Mr. Johnson’s version of the plan because it doesn’t make more cuts right now. Hence, it appears the Republican speaker will need Democratic votes to get this done. What’s in it for Democrats? The alternatives are a shutdown or, worse, dealing with a House GOP budget that makes massive cuts.
Mr. Johnson is postponing the pain. The moment will come, likely in January, when he and other Republicans might have to decide whether to compromise with Democrats to pass a reasonable budget or stick with the Freedom Caucus on a partisan plan to slash programs.
For now, Democrats should give him the benefit of the doubt. Take the short-term deal.
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