Shutting Down the Shutdown
With less than a week before the next time the federal government runs out of money, the Speaker of the U.S. House Saturday rolled out a plan to do just what they swore they’d never do…a continuing resolution to roll through the full fiscal year.
At this point, perhaps that’s the best that can be done…stop wasting time trying to fix a bad situation, and start working on the next fiscal year’s actual budget as part of regular order.
But there’s no guarantee it will pass the House, much less the Senate. Democrats are whipping their members against it, and the Republicans can only lose one vote or else it fails…and there is already one Representative on record as saying he’s a “no” vote.
Fine, let’s presume the House actually does pass the bill tonight and sends it to the Senate. Sure, there are 53 Republicans…but there’s no guarantee they’ll all go for it. But before that, 60 Senators have to vote to move the matter to the floor for consideration, meaning they need 7 Democrats or Independents to join all 53 Republicans…and that’s just so it can be considered and voted upon, with no guarantee of passage.
Let’s really get fanciful and presume the thing does pass in the narrowest nick of time, and the government is funded through September 30. It’s with Democrat priorities and massive deficit spending. GOP leaders, right down to the President, are telling citizens this is the best they can do, but just wait until the budget for the next fiscal year…then you’ll see real change.
Even the most supportive Republican has to feel this is the last straw, the final chance…regardless of how this week’s efforts turn out, does anyone have reason to be confident things will be different when the current fiscal year ends? And how that will affect possible future Republican majorities?
