A Glimmer of Hope on Budget; Plus — What Would Democrats Require to Bail out McCarthy?
Author: Greg Valliere
September 27, 2023
THE NEW DEVELOPMENT is a vote yesterday in the Senate approving a vehicle that would contain a stopgap spending bill through Nov. 17. Democrats had been silent for weeks on the budget, preferring to let Republicans in the House sweat out a crisis, but now there’s some movement.
SENATE DEMOCRATS VOTED 77 TO 19 to approve the procedural green light, just as the House began to make some progress on individual spending bills. A potential obstacle, however, is aid to Ukraine — adamantly opposed by about a dozen House radicals, who have the power to bring the budget process to a halt later this week.
THE THREAT OF A SHUTDOWN — affecting everything from air traffic controllers to food aid for poor children — has finally produced a sense of urgency. Both parties in both houses want a deal, but the dozen radicals have refused to budge, which raises this key question: could Democrats bail out Kevin McCarthy? They have the votes that he needs.
SOURCES REPOPRT THAT DEMOCRATS could be willing to make major concessions on border security, but they would need a lot in exchange for providing McCarthy the votes to pass a budget bill — and preserve his tenure as Speaker.
SOME DEMOCRATS WOULD INSIST on ending the Joe Biden impeachment inquiry, but there’s little chance of that. Democrats would insist on no new spending cuts, and more aid for Ukraine. The deal that avoided a debt ceiling crisis early this summer would be the maximum on spending cuts — and that’s probably a non-starter for the Republicans.
THE DEMOCRATS HAVE THE VOTES to end this crisis, but a sweeping McCarthy rescue package isn’t imminent. It will take a crisis to get to that point — and the crisis hasn’t begun. Democrats know that the GOP will get most of the blame, so there’s no rush for them to act.
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BIDEN DOG BITES AGAIN: Amid all of this week’s serious political and economic stories comes a report this morning in the New York Times that that Commander, an unstable German shepherd, has once again bitten a Secret Service agent — reportedly the tenth time that a Biden dog has attacked.
THE TIMES DEADPANNED that aides to Jill Biden, the first lady, have said that the episodes “are the result of the stress the dogs feel from being at the White House.”
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