Senate still bogged down by gridlock
WASHINGTON — A budget agreement between key Republicans and Democrats. Even President Barack Obama was on board. All without anyone threatening to repeal this or shut down that.
Gridlock, however briefly, took an early holiday in the bitterly polarized, Republican-run House.
But across the Capitol, the high-minded Senate remains in the grip of some of the worst partisan warfare in its history after majority Democrats curbed the Republicans’ power. A round-the-clock talkathon is the result, putting no one in the mood for cooperation. Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened to shorten the Senate’s cherished Christmas vacation if need be.
A Republican called his bluff. “What’s new about that? What’s even threatening about that?” challenged Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb.
Traditionally effective prods to action are often less so in the divided, crisis-managed Congress. Lawmakers have lurched from sequester to shutdown over spending, national health care and more in the two years since Republicans won control of the House with a sizable group of newcomers reluctant to compromise. Their approach proved costly — to the nation’s credit rating, to Congress’ standing among voters and to the GOP, which took the brunt of public blame for the partial government shutdown in October.
The scene has been no better in the Senate. What remained of that chamber’s deliberative nature blew apart last month when majority Democrats, citing GOP obstructionism, curtailed the Republicans’ power to block some presidential nominees. Republicans have tried this week to do what they can to protest, but Reid’s slate of 11 nominations didn’t appear in peril. Early Thursday morning, the Senate approved the first of those, voting 51-44 to confirm Cornelia “Nina” Pillard to the influential D.C. Circuit court.
Still, with the 2014 midterm election year fast approaching, there’s was something unexpected this week: Instead of the standoffs, demands and disrespect that have become routine, key Republicans and Democrats announced a budget deal.
Authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. and quickly endorsed by Obama, the agreement would avert another government shutdown in January and reverse $63 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. It would offset the higher spending with $85 billion over a decade from higher fees and modest curbs on government benefit programs.
What’s more, House conservatives didn’t kill it outright, although some grumbled about the spending levels. Liberals, meanwhile, complained that the deal would not include an extension of unemployment benefits set to expire Dec. 28 for 1.3 million Americans.
But the deal survived the day.
The negotiators spoke Wednesday of finding common ground, however narrow, in the pursuit of a larger goal.
“On balance, my view is this is a step forward,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. “A small one, but a step forward.”
Ryan told the House Rules Committee, “We have shown that we can work together.”
In the Senate, it wasn’t immediately clear whether Republican conservatives would follow their House counterparts and grudgingly accept the Ryan-Murray budget, or rebel against it.
