Four Takeaways From the Budget Deal
Democrats wanted a deal, Republicans were dysfunctional and deficits didn’t matter. Also: No one listens to Donald Trump.
Tweets don’t cut it.
Photographer: Alastair Pike/AFP
A new budget deal passed the House on Thursday and is expected to easily clear the Senate next week. Assuming it does (and President Donald Trump signs it), there will be no debt-limit worries for two years, no sequestration, and little chance of a government shut down. Here are a few other things we’ve learned from this episode.
One is that it’s no coincidence that extended government shutdowns have happened in 1995-1996, 2013, and 2018-2019. They all began with Republican majorities in the House. So did the debt-limit brinkmanship of 2011. Although Democrats bargained hard for spending they wanted in this deal, they never really threatened to disrupt the government or the economy over it. Perhaps they’re more responsible than Republicans. But Democratic majorities have also always had substantive goals that they were out to achieve in these negotiations. Republicans? Not so much. They’re after confrontation for its own sake.