News Update

Here's why the next 24 hours are crucial for Biden's agenda

(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Lawmakers are playing politics with the nation’s pocketbook and the clock is ticking.

The timeline and the tactics of government spending – past, present and future – will converge in a series of hard and soft deadlines and one massive partisan standoff over the next month, and the end result could be any combination of:

We just don’t know how this is going to play out.

Here are the key dates to know:

  • Tomorrow: Government funding expires at midnight, which could trigger a partial shutdown. Over the weekend, Pelosi said that the House would vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill by this date, though that could slip if the bill does not have enough support to pass.
  • Mid-October: The government reaches its borrowing limit, which could trigger a first-ever US default and a self-inflicted economic crisis if the US is unable to pay all its bills on time. It could delay federal payments, including Social Security checks and monthly child tax credit payments.

What must pass to keep the country running? Democrats have tied the debt limit and the must-pass spending together, hoping to shame Republicans into helping raise the debt limit.

Republicans are determined to carry through on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s threat to make Democrats use partisan parliamentary tactics to both fund the government and raise the country’s ceiling.

What else are lawmakers trying to accomplish? There’s a bipartisan infrastructure bill to repair the nation’s roads and bridges and start other needed upgrades.

If Democrats can pass that bipartisan infrastructure bill, they might also be able to gain momentum to pass an even larger $3.5 trillion down payment on their effort to pivot the US economy toward renewable energy and address inequality through new spending programs. Over the weekend, Pelosi conceded to progressives that the House would not vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal until Thursday, in hopes that Democrats could agree on a framework for the broader economic agenda bill.

Will Republicans allow votes on any of this? That’s TBD, but probably not.

McConnell is pushing Republicans in the Senate to stay unified and brushing off the private pleas of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that failing to raise the debt limit could send the US economy spiraling just as it recovers from the pandemic.

They’ll just allow the country to default? Unclear. For now, the coordinated blockade of GOP votes to pay the nation’s bills is a totally cynical but maybe brilliant chess move from a master tactician unburdened by sentimental attachment to the pieces, which in this case include the full faith and credit of the United States.

“Sen. McConnell rarely ever asks us to vote in a particular way, but on this one, he’s made his wishes known, and I don’t think he’s bluffing,” Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, told The Hill. Kennedy, whose state needs disaster aid that’s also in that government funding bill, is among the very few Republicans who have said they might break with their party and vote with Democrats. He said McConnell shows no sign of changing his mind. “He’s like that Missouri mule on this one, just sitting down in the mud and not budging, and I don’t think there will be 10 votes to pass the (funding bill.)”

Why are the Republicans in Congress doing this? There are plenty who simply oppose the spending. Some opposed it even when Republicans controlled Washington, although they all found a way to vote for budget busting temporary tax cuts. But we won’t have to deal with that for a few years.

Voters blamed Republicans for the last two government shutdowns and there’s never been a default. Back in 2013 and 2018, McConnell was the one wrangling for votes to keep things running and keep the bills paid.

Now, barely in the minority, he feels no responsibility to find any votes.

If Social Security can’t send out checks and the Treasury Department can’t sell bonds, that’s their fault. If Democrats can bring their fractious caucus together to keep things going, the journey will further divide them.

McConnell’s gamble is that Democrats will ultimately suck it up and do it, giving Republicans a unifying message of fiscal responsibility to move them beyond the Trump era. Better to label Democrats as profligate spenders, even if it means the US defaulting on its debt.

You can read the full article here.

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