I see a lot of progressives bitching about the outlines of a deal that hasn’t even been finalized, yet. But I don’t think they are focused on the right things. There is a real lost opportunity here, and it’s a victim of the plan to jam the House Republicans. Basically, the idea is that the Senate will chew up all the available time before the Thursday deadline and pass something that gives Speaker Boehner a choice between passing a bill with mostly Democratic votes or being responsible for a financial armageddon. That’s a solid plan.
The thing is, if Speaker Boehner needs House Democrats’ votes, then House Democrats should have the right to make demands. But they will be just as jammed up as the Speaker. They will be in same boat, unable to amend the bill for fear of causing a financial calamity through delay. This limits how much the Democrats can gain from the Republicans’ hubris.
I don’t think we should be pissed about this, exactly, but it is worth lamenting. The victory could have been bigger.
The deal itself, as it has been outlined, is not too bad. It doesn’t officially remove the Republicans’ ability to reprise another debt ceiling crisis, nor does it preclude them from causing another government shutdown. But the Democrats will be only too happy to go through this process again next year, closer to the midterm elections. If the Republicans haven’t learned their lesson, the electoral consequences will be quite rewarding for the Democrats.
The concessions under discussion are half imaginary (income verification for ObamaCare subsidies) and half a favor to labor unions (a delay in employer reinsurance requirements). Neither will incentivize the Republicans to make a repeat performance of their auto-da-fé.
The end result of this shutdown will be a victory nearly as decisive as the one the Russians achieved at Stalingrad. I can imagine a bigger win, but I have no real complaints.
I think, with this, the fever that started with 2010 midterm election results will finally be broken. I look forward to the return of some small degree of normalcy.
