Man Bites Dog: Congress Agrees Not to Shut Down the Government

     News like this is almost surreal, as it's so rare. I think of people like Nick Rowe and his friends at Worth Canadian Initiative and news like this is probably business as usual in Canada where even their conservatives are a lot nicer than ours.

     Here in the U.S.A, we don't have moments like this very often: an actually functioning government. Who knew it could be done?

     "House and Senate leaders have reached a deal to keep federal agencies running into next year, sources say, a move that would avoid a partisan government shutdown fight before the November elections."

     "The agreement in principle by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would keep agencies operating for six months once the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, sources say. Funding would be consistent with the $1.047 trillion level set forth in the 2011 Budget Control Act, above the $1.028 trillion called for by Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget proposal."

     "Final votes, sources say, are expected in September, but congressional leaders could announce a deal as soon as Tuesday."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/79197.html#ixzz22DrqV8Hf


     How many days like this do we get? Just how few is shwn by the fact that we really can count the instances on one hand. I mean since the GOP took over the House in 2010 the instances are that few.

    "While the funding levels could anger some tea party conservatives who have called for deeper cuts in federal spending, many Republicans are eager to head off a contentious budget fight on the eve of a presidential election and would rather punt the issue into next year, hoping Mitt Romney will be in the White House."

   "If Congress agrees to pass a continuing resolution, it would eliminate one looming issue in the pile of unfinished business in the “fiscal cliff” facing lawmakers, including whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income groups and whether to roll back $109 billion in domestic and defense spending cuts set to take place next year."

   So this would even check off something on the list of the "looming fiscal cliff" that we always hear so much about.

  Honestly I was never very worried about it. Today's move teaches us one thing more than anything.

  Any positive legislation that has come out of Washington in the last 80 years only happens with a strong Democratic position. Often we hear people like Chris Mathews bemoan the loss of a bygone more bipartisan ear where they parties worked together.

   He has in mind the Tip O'Neil House and the Ted Kennedy Senate where the Repugs were almost always in the minority. Since Clinton's victory in 1992, they have had a scorched earth position.

   This episode has a better outcome because the President rolled the GOP last Summer and got a much better deal than Firebag nation appreciated at the time. Then all you heard was that Obama was in bed with Pete Petterson and that it was inevitable that he would cut Medicare soon.

   In truth as shown in David Corn's "Showdown" Obama did play an excellent game of the very eleven dimensional chess they were so scornful of at places like Firedoglake.

  Because of the good hand he played, the Dems were in a much better position this time around. This deal was largely proposed by the GOP themselves, they didn't want yet another government shutdown scenario based on their recalcitrance. Playing hostage with the government budget had been the favored GOP sport since the 90s. This time they feared the shutdown more than the Dems did.