What's the best way for Republicans to avert a government shutdown? Ignore the House maniacs, bypass Donald Trump's pet projects, and work with Democrats to pass a reasonable bill by April 28 to keep the government funded through 2017. The Washington Post writes:
Aides in both parties said negotiations are underway on a stopgap funding measure that both sides could support, one that sidesteps such political land mines as President Trump’s request for new funding to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The bipartisan bonhomie marks a refreshing break from the dark days of spending fights that descended on the Capitol after the 2010 elections swept a wave of hard-line conservative tea party candidates into office.
That would be the House maniacs (i.e. Freedom Caucus) who threatened to blow up the U.S. government and its world standing over every spending-related deadline during Obama's presidency in order to achieve their demented ends. Ever since 2010, Republican leaders have first attempted to pass spending legislation by solely appealing to their own caucus before realizing Democrats were the only players sane enough to help them keep the government funded. The tradeoff was that the GOP had to scrap purely partisan provisions like defunding Planned Parenthood in order to attract Democratic votes.
Interestingly, the House maniacs now appear to have threatened themselves right out of any negotiations with Republican leadership.
The difference this time is that Republican leaders are turning to Democrats from the get-go, a decision that will produce less drama in the halls of Congress but is likely to make it much harder to craft a budget that matches Trump’s ambitions on an array of fronts, from the border wall to a big increase in defense spending.
Just like GOP leadership had ignored Planned Parenthood poison pills from the maniacs, now they have to sideline Trump's pet projects, too. The question that remains is whether Trump will use his veto pen if he doesn't get what he wants.
Trump, for example, could refuse to sign a funding measure that doesn’t include money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Such funding is a non-starter with Democrats, as are any other policy changes that could be construed as a win for the president.
“Members of Congress know what they can pass. Maybe the White House doesn’t,” [Nancy] Pelosi said. “And that’s—that line of communication is where you might see some—more difference of opinion than even between Democrats and Republicans in the Congress.”
This is where the GOP gerrymandering that assures many Freedom Caucus members will get re-elected no matter how useless they are has given Democrats leverage over budget bills. In fact, the health care debacle was a real eye opener for Republican leadership.
House Republicans are bitterly divided and aimless after the collapse of a plan by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) to rewrite the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. Still angry over that grueling battle, the right wing of Ryan’s caucus is not expected to support a measure to keep the government open past the April deadline, though that is far from settled.
So Ryan has turned for help to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Heh. This could be a test run for the thornier battle over 2018 funding that looms this fall.