Hey, that Paul Ryan is some operator, huh? The combined tax and spending package now careening through Congress–$1.1 trillion in spending and $600 billion in tax cuts, not a penny of them paid for–is passing with scarcely a whimper, much less a bang. Right-wingers who, a month or two before, were promising to fight to the last ditch against spending a dime on Planned Parenthood, not to mention letting in a single damn Syrian “refugee,” suddenly don’t be able to find their way to a microphone, because the silence is deafening.
Over at “Reason”, reasonable if not rational observer Pete Suderman explains that
“the best thing about this particular end-of-year budget negotiation is that it avoids a last-minute shutdown showdown, which, while perhaps satisfying as a protest maneuver, would likely be counterproductive overall. In avoiding a shutdown and moving quickly toward passage, it sets the stage for a more sensible budgeting process next year, one that does not rely on midnight hour dealmaking and brinksmanship. Indeed, through a spokesperson, House Speaker Paul Ryan told The Washington Post that the goal going forward is to avoid the process that led to this deal and move back toward budgeting through regular order.”
Well, yeah, if “regular order” is what you want. But I thought that “regular order” was exactly what the “crazies” at the House Freedom Caucus didn’t want. I thought the idea was that you weren’t just going to put a gun to the damn dog’s head. I thought the idea was that you were going to shoot the damn dog! So what happened to that? Is it possible that, with the economy reviving, we’re back to the good old days, when, in the immortal words of Sen. Orrin Hatch “we didn’t worry about paying for things”? Could be! Could be!
