No, sane Republicans are not to blame for the quasi-federal shutdown

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A simple thought experiment: if you leave at 7:55 p.m. for a citywide concert that starts at 8 p.m., do you have the right to blame the traffic for making you late?

This analogy applies to the United States Senate today. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, attempted Thursday to blame conservative Republicans for a possible government shutdown. But the blame rests squarely on Schumer’s shoulders, for mishandling the Senate calendar all fall, to the point that he wants senators to spend a full year in business by Christmas. Consider the problems Schumer will put at the feet of lawmakers, with only days or hours to spare before a legislative deadline:

Pileup 1: government spending

The mess occupied most of Congress’ time last week, with a deal finally reached Thursday night. On Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, announced that he would not agree to limit debate on a spending bill to fund the government in the absence of explicit language prohibiting mandates President Biden’s vaccine. Because government funding expired at midnight Friday, and because settling a bill through all Senate procedural hoops could take a good chunk of a week (that is, well after midnight Friday), Lee recognized that he had a power and was ready to use it. .

Ultimately, Lee and his colleagues agreed to vote on a mandate funding amendment in exchange for a fast-track review of the spending bill. The amendment was defeated 50-48 (no Democrats voted in favor, two Republicans were absent) and the spending bill was then passed.

While all Senate Republicans supported ending federal vaccine mandates, they disagreed over whether Lee’s strategy of potentially forcing the government to shut down was the best way to foil a series of warrants that several courts have already canceled. But many of them, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said “I don’t think anyone can be too surprised that Senator Lee” is employing his tactics, given Schumer’s failure to plan. . As former Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, noted: “When you push things to the last minute, you allow every senator to say ‘I disagree.’ If you plan better and anticipate these differences… It’s pretty predictable and unfortunate.

This same problem plagued Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, three years ago, when in trying to “block” senators at the last minute, the federal government made a brief hiatus because the colleague from the McConnell’s home state Senator Rand Paul, R- Kentucky, would not expedite consideration of a spending bill. But the fault was not Paul’s then, nor Lee’s now. The fault lay with the respective Senate leaders, who had not planned far enough in advance and anticipated potential objections.

Pileup 2: Debt limit

This week’s credit measurement showdown served both as a precursor and a warning to a similar deadlock over the debt limit. The Treasury Department has said Congress is expected to act on the issue by Dec. 15, and while some Republicans (wrongly) want to help Democrats pass a raise, no deal has yet been announced. Meanwhile, time continues to turn.

The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that leaders in Congress are now said to be debating whether to tie the increase in the debt limit to the annual defense authorization bill, a move that suggests a sense of hopelessness. . Schumer is no doubt hoping this move will force pro-defense Republicans to “swallow” a multibillion-dollar increase in the name of supporting troops. But the bet might just as well turn out to be half too smart, with budget conservatives voting against the bill because of the increased debt ceiling and anti-war progressives voting against the bill because of the defense spending.

Pileup 3: cuts in planned health insurance spending

The spending bill that Congress approved on Thursday took no action to undo a series of mandatory spending cuts, which will hit the hardest Medicare, which is expected to take effect at the start of the year next. One report noted that “Democrats are committed to finding another legislative vehicle to deal with… funding cuts next year.”

Here again, the problem is entirely democratic, on several levels:

The spending cuts next year will occur due to a required receivership under the Pay-As-You-Go Act. This sequestration will take place because Democrats passed a $ 1.9 trillion COVID spending boom along party lines in March. While lawmakers have traditionally passed a waiver avoiding potential escrow cuts before they take effect, Republicans don’t feel the need to cushion the blow of the Democrats’ latest multibillion-dollar spending spree. while Democrats spent most of the fall trying to pass another budget-busting bill (as I predicted they would be back in February). Republican leaders therefore insisted on leaving a waiver of the spending bill passed Thursday. In theory, Democrats can pass a stand-alone bill waiving House cuts, and Schumer could attempt to find 10 Senate Republicans willing to cross party lines and pass it. Schumer could still make such a move this year, but it would take time in the Senate that he wants to spend instead on passing the bankrupt rebuilding plan.

As with the potential shutdown, which it didn’t, Chuck Schumer will try to blame Republicans when the spending cuts take effect in a few weeks. But it’s not the Republicans’ job to correct his bad COVID law – or cede their procedural rights because he decides to mismanage the Senate floor. If Schumer is to find the real culprit behind all of these problems, he just has to look in the mirror.

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