White House Walls, Budgets and Corrupt Politics: The McConnell-MacDonnell Deal After The Midterm Elections Revisited

There is a government funding standoff in Washington that is an indicator of the change in power dynamics that will bring a cold war between the congressional Republicans and the White House.

Democrats are going to fight until the last moment to get a government spending bill passed and they are also going to fight until January when the new Congress will take office.

When Republicans won the House and Democrats kept control of the Senate in last month’s mid-term elections, there was a possibility that they would not deliver on their promises to the voters.

In some cases, the need to raise the borrowing limit next year threatens to cause a government shut down or economic destruction in the US. After the Republicans gained congressional majority, the government shutdown threats that were a regular holiday season tradition under the Obama administration will return. The government closed down for 35 days during the holiday season in November and December because the president refused to approve the funding for a wall on the border.

McConnell said on Tuesday that he was very close to getting a deal on a spending bill that would be appealing. McConnell said that needs to be finished no later than December 22, noting that they “intend to be on the road going home” on December 23 ahead of the Christmas holiday.

Some people believe the passage of a long-term funding mechanism might give the House GOP leadership a break since a short term deal would raise the possibility of a government shutdown in the first day of a new Republican majority. Minority leader Kevin McCarthy is being pressed by the most radical members of his conference to get enough votes to become speaker. He has little political leeway and has therefore been heaping public pressure on Senate Republicans to thwart Biden’s hopes of one more spending package, saying on Fox News earlier this month that once Republicans have the gavel in the House, “We would be stronger in every negotiation.”

While giving a glimpse of how he would preside over a confrontation with the White House, his comments also showed how the GOP House could complicate McConnell’s life next year as he tries to manage his party.

A senior Biden administration official warned last week that a funding deal that lasted a year would have disastrous consequences.

Why spending isn’t needed: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. John Kennedy and Sen. Jack Huckabee, whose congressman Bernie Sanders caucuses with Democrats

And on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, implied that Republicans were trying to jam Democrats at the end of this year to kickstart their effort in the new GOP House to slash spending on vital social programs.

Republicans see it as an opportunity to hold us hostage, and they would not do that in normal circumstances, Huckabee said on CNN.

They want to cut Social Security and Medicare and they have made it clear, according to Huckabee.

Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin up to Capitol Hill last week to brief senators on the war in Ukraine. The Republicans emerged from the meeting complaining that the two Secretaries spent time lobbying for an omnibus appropriations bill over the continuing resolution.

It was a waste of time. John Kennedy said it was a waste of time. He said that Schumer had asked Tony and Austin why the spending bill was necessary. “I knew as soon as Chuck said that. … this is just a political exercise,” Kennedy said.

“We may be singing to each other so bring your Christmas carols here,” the Senate Republican said last week.

The Midterm Budget Crisis in Congress: A Tale of Two Houses of Business and Politics, and an Implication for the Defense Authorization Act

How long the extension will last is going to be the key question. It is possible that a week will be enough for lawmakers to reach a bigger deal, and still allow more time for negotiations. Or it could extend the shutdown deadline into the next Congress, which will convene on January 3, and when Republicans take control of the House.

The other major legislative item lawmakers are working to wrap up before the end of the year is the National Defense Authorization Act, the massive annual must-pass defense policy bill. The NDAA is expected to get a vote in the Senate this week and be approved with bipartisan support.

The approaching deadline had members of Congress and their staffers from both parties, as well as Biden administration officials, continuing to slog through negotiations over the weekend to try to get to an agreement on a spending package.

“This is the time of the year when there’s no weekends for folks who work on appropriations,” one administration official closely involved in the talks told CNN.

The weekend talks went better than days before and Democrats will not introduce a Democratic-only omnibus plan on Monday. Republicans on Capitol Hill had been reading a threat for Democrats to introduce their own bills as a messaging exercise that would only further divide negotiators, and by avoiding that messaging exercise, Republicans see a sign that Democrats are serious about trying to get to yes.

Both parties are expected to agree to a short-term CR before the deadline on Friday, in order to keep the government running.

Republicans are critical of recent domestic spending by Democrats and argue that measures Democrats have passed while they have controlled both chambers of Congress, like the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill and a sweeping health care and climate bill, are wasteful and have worsened inflation.

If a broader bipartisan deal does come together, it would be poised to pass both chambers. It’s likely that a deal will be approved by the House, but it will be up to some Republicans to break with McCarthy to get there. The bill won’t pass muster with some progressives in the House, because they will need to craft a deal in order to win 10 GOP votes in the Senate.

McConnell gave a speech on the Senate floor. The commander-in-chief and his party have spent huge amounts of money on domestic priorities outside of the normal appropriations process without any money for the Defense Department. Obviously, we won’t allow them to now hijack the government funding process, too, and take our troops hostage for even more liberal spending,” McConnell said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee chairman outlined the arguments for his party in his floor remarks. Leahy said that Republicans demand steep cuts to programs the American people rely on.

An omnibus bill of the Democrats’ own will be introduced Monday, but would not have the Republican votes to pass in the Senate, which is important to them in the funding fight.

The busiest time of the year on Capitol Hill is after the election and before Republicans take over the House of Representatives.

On January 3, the newly elected congress will be sworn in. Republicans will then be in charge of the House, and Democrats will have a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate. Everything resets in the new Congress, and lawmakers will have to start from scratch on anything they don’t finish up this month.

Rather than pass a dozen funding bills in turn, lawmakers are poised to roll all the spending bills for the massive federal government into one bill that could approach or exceed $1.5 trillion.

The problem is that they’re still negotiating, and Republicans and Democrats in the Senate haven’t reached an agreement on how much the government can spend. They are $26 billion apart according to Republican senator Richard sShelby. The House and Senate are most likely to pass short-term funding bills to keep the lights on, as they continue to negotiate the larger funding bill.

In addition to writing checks, Congress authorizes government activity through policy bills, including the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes $858 billion in annual defense spending.

It’s a sprawling endeavor, and this year’s version passed by the House gives members of the military a 4.6% pay raise, gives new support to Ukraine and NATO, and retools US air power and land defense efforts. It also rescinds a Covid-19 vaccine requirement for service members, a move that Biden has opposed.

Senators are expected to take up the bill this week. It should get bipartisan support, but will also eat up valuable time on the Senate floor, where Democrats want to push through judicial nominees. Read more about the defense bill.

Resolving the House Select Committee: Trump’s Taxes in the Prescription of a Deep Inflationary Insurrection

Republicans, particularly in the House, plan to use the nation’s borrowing limit as a bargaining chip to force spending cuts next year. The current debt ceiling of $31.4 trillion will likely be reached in the coming weeks, which means raising it will be a major fight early in 2023.

How much more does the government spend than it takes in? The government’s fiscal year started in October and it has a deficit of $326 billion, $20 billion lower than the year-ago period.

Republicans will shut down the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection when they take control in January. GOP lawmakers plan to flip the script and investigate the committee’s activity.

But first, the committee, which features Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, will issue its much-anticipated report on December 21. The Department of Justice should prosecute anyone in Trump’s inner circle.

Meanwhile, Jack Smith, the newly appointed special counsel, has been busy ramping up a pair of criminal probes involving the former president, all of which could explode into public view if charges are ultimately brought. Smith’s work is available for download.

It will be difficult for the Republicans to conduct a Trump tax investigation when they take control of the House.

It is possible that some of Trump’s tax information will be made public, on top of what The New York Times published in 2020. But there could be a political cost to simply releasing the returns since Democrats obtained them in order to scrutinize IRS audit policy. Read more about Trump’s taxes.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/politics/congress-deadlines-funding-what-matters/index.html

The Electoral Count Act: A Key Negotiator and Implications for the Future of the Social Welfare Act, which passed in November 2021

It’s a bipartisan idea to make some major clarifications to election law and cut down on the possibility of another January 6, 2021. The bill is meant to protect against Insurrection 2.0.

There is no time to debate the proposal in the House or Senate. bipartisan support exists for the Senate version. The Republicans in the House may not be interested in the legislation in the new year.

If the Electoral Count Act can pass, it could be slipped into that massive spending bill. It hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves, but this could be a good example of lawmakers working together.

Key negotiators declined to reveal details about the proposal or overall numbers, but said earlier in the week that there was agreement on a framework.

The announcement did not give details, but it was a major breakthrough in the battle to fund the government before the end of the year.

There is some opposition to this larger spending plan, though. Kevin McCarthy, the House GOP leader, slammed Democrats for rushing the package through Congress.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin warned about the prospects of the government funding fight moving into next year. That would encourage more obstruction, according to Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin. “This fiscal year began October 1. This job should be done before Christmas.

He said people would want to fund the government until there was a full year omnibus deal in place.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that negotiations on a year-long government funding bill are moving forward and if talks continue as they are, he’s “hopeful” they’ll reach a deal.

A group of Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates are pushing hard to restore at least part of the enhanced child tax credit that stabilized many families’ finances in 2021.

Voting for the Stopgap Measure to End the Government Finance Agreement with New Top Line Spending Levels – Sen. Ron Wyden

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said on Tuesday that he plans to “fight with every ounce of my strength” over the issue.

The training and educated workers are the most sought after by companies today. You make investments like the Child Tax Credit and you give the employers the chance to get more of what they want. So the two of them – the Child Tax Credit, the Research and Development Credit – I support both, very, very strongly,” he said.

There is a lot of expiring tax policies that need to be extended, which enjoys bipartisan support, but as is usually the case there is a price to be paid for it. As of right now, I don’t see it.”

The stopgap measure will extend funding for another week – until Friday, December 23 – to give congressional negotiators time to finalize a broader, full-year government funding deal with new topline spending levels.

On Wednesday, Shelby said the top line is about $1.7 trillion, but would not elaborate. The allocations to the different government agencies are still being worked out.

The government funding agreement, which was negotiated by both the Democrats and Republicans, was difficult to get because of disagreements over how much money should be spent on domestic priorities.

The Araucaria Project: General Report on the State of the House of Representatives to the First Delegation of the Joint Commission on Higher-Centric Populations

“They want to pass legislation that will increase spending and inflation while creating more ‘wokeism’ among members, and not even let them read it or have a chance to see it,” he said.

The budget for the fiscal year is submitted by the president and outlines spending goals for the upcoming year. Congress then works to hash out what items will stay and what will go.