Senators Elizabeth Warren and John Fetterman said no, but South Dakota’s dreadful duo of John Thune and Marion Michael Rounds said yes along with 61 other Senators last night to release the world from Republican hostagery… or perhaps doom it to more such episodes of extortion at the point of a fiscal gun.
But don’t worry: with the debt ceiling now (well, as soon as President Biden rolls out of bed and signs the bill) suspended until January 2025, Senators are already working on ways around the budget provisions of the deal:
The budget caps on defense, which would limit national defense spending at the administration’s $886 billion proposal for fiscal 2024, incensed Senate defense hawks, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who demanded that Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell give written assurances of a plan to include a standalone, supplemental bill on defense funding.
The two party leaders delivered that statement before voting began. Schumer said on the Senate floor that he negotiated with Republicans to ensure the bill won’t limit efforts to pass emergency aid packages for Ukraine, as well as deal with other urgent needs.
“The Republicans came to us — the Republican senators were not happy with the caps that the Republican House members had agreed to. And so they came to us and said, ‘Well, what about if we need money for Ukraine? What if we need money for these things? The caps may be too low,’” Schumer said in a press conference after the vote.
He added: “So McConnell and I put out a joint statement that we would look at finding ways to fund things that were really needed through emergency and other ways, but also through the regular appropriations process, which was always going to go forward. So that’s what it basically said. And when they came to me and asked me to do this, I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea’” [Daniella Diaz, “Senate Averts Default, Sends Debt Bill to Biden’s Desk,” Politico, 2023.06.01].
Hey, if we can cook up emergency measures to keep supporting Ukraine and other vital interests overseas, we can surely identify some emergencies here at home that supersede the deal we just made with the McCarthy hostage-taking gang. Kids gotta eat, roads gotta get paid… and most importantly, the United States of America has to keep paying its bills.
Why do they even bother with a budget?
There never was any drama with the debt limit. It was always going to be raised like it always has been raised in the past.
sx123, Budgets are always flexible. Budgets are planning documents. They are not set in stone.
Our Republican delegation did the right thing, at the right time. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.
I did like the fact that Congressman Johnson went on all the networks and banged the drum for passage….even MSNBC. He was personable and good humored. I have Liberal friends in South Dakota who hush me when I criticize the Congressman. Their point is “He’s the best we can get.” and “You can’t criticize him when the Democratic Party doesn’t even bother to raise money and find a candidate to run against him.” I’ve come around to that point of view.
Mr. Blundt- Although I did vote for Rep. Johnson’s opponent, the young Libertarian with refreshing goals for SD, I agree with your comment that Congressman Johnson is the least detestable of our politicians…. Only as long as I remember correctly that Rep Johnson gets raided by Canadian bears instead of murking Canadian bears.. He is endearing in a particularly South Dakota way.
I saw his interview on MSNBC. When they ask questions, his standard answer was to repeat republican dogma over and over.
His years of never doing anything but politics serves him well, but not SD. If he is the “best we can get”, then $174,000 salary
is a total welfare subsidy for him while he complains about others on SNAP benefits who actually work for a living.