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| Official portrait of United States Senator (R-KY) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| English: Harry Reid (D-NV), United States Senator from Nevada and Majority Leader of the United States Senate (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Doomsday predictions; the possibility of the United States failing to pay its bills for the first time in history, may be averted. At least that is the hope of Senate Leaders Harry Reid, (D-Nevada) and Mitch McConnell, (R-Kentucky) who have been working on a bi-partisan compromise they hope to sell to their own members as well as the deeply divided U.S. House.
According
to the New York Times and several other
sources this morning, the two worked into the night Monday to craft a plan that
would pass a resolution to finance the government through Jan. 15, putting the
U.S. government back in business and raise the debt limit through February.
The deal
would also establish a budget committee by Dec. 13 to replace the automatic
budget cuts that were put in place by the sequester. Sequestration--unappealing
across the board cuts—were the result last March from failed budget talks
between Republicans and Democrats.
The
upcoming Senate deal, as reported includes no real changes to the Affordable
Care Act, though there may be some minor ones.
House
Speaker John Boehner, (R-Ohio) was alerted by McConnell. Boehner failed to react
one way or the other.
His
position is at least consistent, since Boehner has failed to react to much of
anything the Senate has done to keep the government open. Boehner’s lack of
reaction to the Senate’s Continuing Resolution (CR) is what sparked the
government to furlough federal workers and close its doors to offices,
landmarks, and parks all across the country—now in Day 15 of a government
shutdown.
It is
believed by both Republicans and Democrats that the entire shutdown could have
been avoided, had Boehner simply allowed a clean CR to be brought to the House floor
for a vote. Instead, the Republicans in the House tied numerous measures to the
resolution that had no chance of bi-partisan support.
With more
than 40 attempts by House Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly
referred to as Obamacare, the House attempted unsuccessfully to pass a CR with
strings attached. At first, it was tied to gutting the Affordable Care Act
through several varied measures.
Their
efforts failed.
On Oct.
1, the Affordable Care Act went on line and millions of people attempted to
sign up for health insurance, some for the first time in their lives.
With the
law fully implemented, there was no longer any point to tying the law to the CR
so Republicans tied other provisions to it with efforts to reopen government
programs in a piecemeal fashion. It was no coincidence that amendments House
Republicans offered were similar to news events and photo ops, such as the
World War II Veterans Memorial or the National Institute of Health where ailing
children were prevented from receiving cancer treatments. That photo-op
included several House members dressed in medical garb.
Democrats
stood firm, refusing to give in to House demands to have it their way. Boehner
and other House Republicans continued their attempt to send the message that
Democrats were to blame for the government shutting down because Democrats
refused to compromise.
Boehner
never bothered to mention the months since March that he refused to appoint a
conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the funding
bill. He also failed to mention that the Senate’s CR set the spending limit at
$967 billion, a figure derived by House members. Senate Democrats wanted the
limit to be $1.058 trillion, but they compromised.
What is
different this time? Why would Boehner take the Senate deal now when he
wouldn’t do it for the last 15 days?
Boehner
has said in the past that he has no intention of letting the government default
on its debt. The stakes are high. House Republicans have gotten messages from
their pals with the purse strings.
Wall
Street has issued warnings that a government default would have dire
consequences. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew testified before the Senate, painting
a grim picture with world consequences of a default. Koch Industries,
ironically, has written a letter to senators urging action to avert a debt
ceiling crisis.
Republicans
approval rating has plummeted, with Americans largely blaming them for the
government shutdown.
Mitch
McConnell, who is facing an election in 2014 knows that. While he has largely
been silent during this debacle, he has stepped into the fray to work with Reid
on a deal. If it is successful, his political star could rise once again. If
not, well, it could be meteoric calamity.
Boehner
is at a crossroads.
With his
speakership in jeopardy, he is going to have to make a decision. He has been
trying to appease the tea party caucus, with its anti-government rhetoric. On
the other side are more reasonable Republicans, some of which have seemingly
broken ranks with the speaker. They have been prevented from acting on their
own due to an amendment to the House Standing Rules by Pete Sessions, (R-Texas)
Republican-heavy rules committee that prevents anyone but the speaker or his
designee from introducing the CR to the floor.
We are
close to the eleventh hour when deals are made. The stakes are high, not just
for the American people, but for the individual members of congress. Next year,
the House members will face re-election. Their reputations are at stake.
It may
not be pretty, but they probably will get it done.
