Congress killed the six-month budget deal last week. While technically lawmakers only killed its pairing with the SAVE Act, the reality is that they killed the House Republicans’ momentum and leverage with it.
Inaction is not a palatable option at this point, and the government “shuts down” seven days from now, at midnight. So what’s next? For now, a short-term continuing resolution that will fund the government for three months.
This is all but assured, because it allows Congress to kick hard decisions into the future.
You know when you tell a child that his bad behavior before he goes to school means no dessert that night and it doesn’t faze him because that’s basically an eternity away? That child is Congress. Three months is after the election, so it might as well never come, and by then it’s almost Christmas anyway.
