Maybe it’s a new world, politically.
[Update a few minutes later]
Congress Proposes New Law Banning Anyone From Reading Spending Bill Until It's Passed https://t.co/zuL1kRxSoN pic.twitter.com/bWFVfXIcGt
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) December 19, 2024
[Update a while later]
This seems somewhat related: Rapid-Onset Political Enlightenment.
I said the day after the election that I had a great feeling of relief, and this sort of explains it. It’s almost like when Saruman’s spell over Théoden was broken.
I would think that a clean CR bill plus a clean disaster relief bill could be put together and voted on in 20 minutes. There’s no need for a shutdown unless politicians want to play brinksmanship games.
Well, the new, sorta-clean (reduced from 1500 pages to 116) bill failed, as expected.
38 Republicans voted “no”, and I’m having a hard time blaming them much; the addition of the debt-ceiling waiver, and it not being accompanied by any spending cuts, was guaranteed to fail to get Freedom Caucus support.
Also guaranteeing failure; the method used to bring this to the floor required 2/3 to pass.
So, here’s a crazy idea; talk to the Republicans who voted “no” and see what they want spending cuts it’d take to get them to “yes”. If you can cobble together a simple majority with them, then do it. No Democrat votes needed. Then, once passed, immediately adjourn the house for Christmas. That way, if the Democrats in the Senate (or a Biden veto) kill the bill, it’s all on them.