Something new for John Boehner to sweat.
House Republicans continue to be spectacularly unable to get anything done. Wednesday night they
couldn't even get their own budget out of committee, because the warmongers want more defense spending and the cut-everything caucus won't go along.
GOP leaders had hoped that an amendment from Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) bumping up funding in a war account to $96 billion, and requiring no offsets for that spending, would win over members of the Armed Services Committee and other lawmakers who had demanded that defense spending at least match the level requested by Obama. [House Budget Committee Chair Tom] Price had downplayed the chances this week that such a proposal could pass his committee, aides said, even as leadership was pushing for it. [...]
But the amendment sparked a revolt by fiscal conservatives, leading to a late-night recess and eventual capitulation for the evening by Price on his proposal.
The Budget panel went into recess late Wednesday night as Price and McCarthy sought to convince their side to agree to the resolution.
Pressure is now being applied to get the votes needed and the budget committee is likely to come back for another try on Thursday.
This session of Congress is only a couple months old, but already, as Kerry Eleveld points out, "Boehner has already suffered two epic legislative fails," on an abortion bill that had to be tabled after a group of Republican women came out in opposition, and on the extended Department of Homeland Security funding debacle. If Republicans are once again having trouble agreeing on their own bill, it doesn't look like Boehner is suddenly about to become an effective speaker who governs responsibly.
8:13 AM PT: Hey, they got it through committee!
House Budget Committee approves GOP budget resolution on vote of 22-13
— @jamiedupree