From Yahoo:
“Congress Juggles Agenda to
Avert Government Shutdown and Default”
Democratic leaders on Capitol
Hill are running up against multiple critically important deadlines as they
navigate a fraught political landscape where any misstep could have dire
consequences for the national economy and President Joe Biden’s legacy.
While some of the worst-case
scenarios -- a government shutdown, a federal default or the complete collapse
of Biden’s economic plan -- are unlikely, several obstacles stand in the way as
leaders manage intertwining negotiations and competing political agendas. Democrats,
who have slim majorities in both the House and Senate, are trying to balance
normal legislative work -- funding the federal government and managing the
national debt -- while simultaneously finalizing two separate bills that
contain much of Biden’s economic vision. They are sparring with Republicans
over the debt while facing divisions within their own party about how much to
spend on new social programs and what taxes to raise to pay for them.
Here’s a rundown of the ongoing
battles in Congress.
Government Funding Both
parties largely agree on a short-term extension of federal funding through Dec.
3, but Democrats have attached the debt-ceiling suspension to that must-pass
measure and Republicans say they won’t vote for it because they don’t approve
of Democrats’ plans to spend trillions more on social programs. Current
government funding runs out Sept. 30, so lawmakers must reach a deal by then to
avert a shutdown. The likely scenario is that lawmakers strip out the debt
ceiling language from the funding bill and find another way to address the
debt. It’s also possible that they could pass a one- or two-week stopgap
funding measure to continue negotiating with Republicans. “Whatever it
is, we will have a CR that passes both houses by Sept. 30,” House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said Thursday, referring to a continuing resolution, the legislative
name for a short-term spending bill.
Debt Ceiling Democrats say
that Republicans should vote to raise the debt limit because it has
traditionally been a bipartisan exercise and government debt includes money
spent under President Donald Trump. Republicans say Democrats can and should
use a fast-track budget process to avoid the Senate’s typical 60-vote threshold
and allow them to pass the bill Democrats-only in the evenly divided chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says Republicans are to blame if the
U.S. Treasury defaults on its obligations, an unlikely but economically
catastrophic possibility if lawmakers don’t increase the government’s borrowing
ability by sometime in mid-to-late October. Democrats are coming to the
realization that they will likely have to use the filibuster-proof budget
reconciliation process to suspend the debt ceiling on their own in the next
several weeks. “If they’re not going to be responsible, we still will
be,” Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, said. A less likely -- but
far more risky -- possibility is that Democrats hold firm and wait for
financial markets to fall and hope that puts pressure on at least 10
Republicans to join them to pass a debt limit bill.
Infrastructure Bill The
$550 billion bipartisan plan to pump new money into transportation and energy
facilities is a key priority for many moderate Democrats, particularly those
who represent swing districts and states. The Senate has already passed the
politically popular bill, but Pelosi, at the urging of progressives, has
delayed a House vote to give lawmakers time to work on the rest of Biden’s tax
and spending plans. Last month, Pelosi pledged she would allow a vote on
the infrastructure bill on Sept. 27. But progressives are threatening to sink
the bill because the $3.5 trillion package funding many of their priorities
through a series of tax increases isn’t yet ready for a vote. The House
Budget Committee and a group of moderates are both planning work over the
weekend to advance the reconciliation bill, but Democrats probably won’t be
able to line up that larger package for a Monday vote. That means Pelosi
has a stark choice: anger moderates by delaying the vote on the infrastructure
bill or risk an embarrassing defeat on the House floor.
$3.5 Trillion Tax and Spending
Plan The reconciliation bill -- which contains the bulk of Biden’s agenda
-- still faces several hurdles in Congress as Democrats debate the details,
including the topline number. The budget agreement they are using to
advance the legislation gives them up to $3.5 trillion, but moderates including
Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have said
they won’t vote for a bill that big. If they don’t budge -- and they’ve given no
indication they will -- Democrats will have to settle for something less. A
smaller reconciliation package would force tough calls about their own
priorities. That’s likely to be contentious as Democrats fight to include their
favored provisions in what could be the last large bill to pass before the
mid-term elections. The legislation currently calls for trillions for
renewable energy investment, tax credits for families, free college and an
expansion of Medicare benefits, offset by tax increases on corporations and
households making more than $400,000. Pelosi and Schumer said Thursday
they had a “framework” of tax options to pay for the expanding social programs,
but those ideas haven’t been vetted by the caucus. Finalizing the details could
take weeks -- if not months -- for Democrats to resolve.
^ If Congress (Republicans and
Democrats) and Biden don’t get their acts together then the US Federal Government
will Shutdown this time next week. That means that Millions of Federal
Employees won’t get paid and Millions more of ordinary Americans won’t have
access to different programs and services. ^
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