Government Shutdown

The GOP's Year Of Living Dangerously: What Did Its Hardline Strategy Produce?

Brian Beutler | December 28, 2011, 5:33AM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Houser Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

When the House GOP's enormous freshman class arrived on Capitol Hill in January, it wasn't uncommon to hear them sound off on the mistakes their predecessors made in 1995. Despite having shut down the government -- twice! -- House Republicans under Newt Gingrich had caved too easily, didn't push hard enough, didn't embody the true spirit of conservatism.

But the new House leadership wasn't so sanguine. Many had lived through the Gingrich revolution and its aftermath. Others had been around long enough to hear tales of it. And so they mapped out a strategy specifically designed to avoid what they believe were the party's '90s-era mistakes.

In other words, the two factions -- the newly energized backbenchers and the veteran leadership -- were pulling each other in opposite directions. The tug of war left the House GOP's strategic center of gravity stuck in an unstable position. The party was committed to fighting as hard as possible, but stopping short of its most conservative members' slash and burn instincts.

The 2011 version of the House GOP, in not always easy coordination with Senate Republicans, would approve must-pass bills, but only after dragging negotiations down to the wire and extracting as many concessions as possible from Senate Dems and the White House each time. We saw that strategy play out over and over again this year, with mixed results for both parties and largely poor results for the country at large.

Here's a quick lookback at a year of living dangerously -- and the series of recurring crises that it produced.

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Government Shutdown

House Passes Legislation To Fund The Government

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 2:31PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

By a vote of 296-121, the House on Friday passed legislation to complete funding of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Eighty-six Republicans and 35 Democrats each voted against their party leaders on the measure.

The Senate is expected to take the measure up shortly, though it's unclear when it will hit the floor for a vote, as Senate leaders continue contentious negotiations over separate legislation to renew a two percent payroll tax cut next year.

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Payroll Tax Cut

How The Payroll Tax Deal Is Likely To Play Out

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2011, 11:41AM

U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) speaks to the press during his weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on December 1, 2011.

With a government shutdown averted, the final item on the Congressional agenda before the year's out is to finalize legislation to renew the payroll tax, extend unemployment benefits, and temporarily fix the Medicare payment formula so that doctors don't take a huge pay cut on the first of the year.

Senate Dem and GOP leaders say they're nearing agreement on such a package, which will be offset with budget cuts and savings, but not with a surtax on millionaires, which Dems finally, officially dropped Thursday night.

So here's the plan now: Later today, the House will pass legislation to fund the government, averting a shutdown. House members will leave town for the weekend while the Senate hammers out its final compromise -- which barring a snag, could pass this weekend with little fuss.

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Government Shutdown

Shutdown Averted As Dem, GOP Leaders Hash Out Payroll Tax Deal

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 9:52PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

House and Senate leaders have reached an agreement on a deal to avoid a government shutdown, and are nearing a separate deal on legislation to renew a soon-to-expire payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits, and a "doc fix" measure to prevent a steep, automatic pay cut to Medicare physicians.

The breakthrough comes just over 24 hours before funding for the government was set to run out, though the principals continue to squabble over policy measures and payfors attached to the payroll bill.

Democrats have officially dropped their push for a small surtax on millionaires as one means of offsetting the cost of the bill. And it's unclear what they got in return, aside from a pledge from Republicans not to jam Democrats with their partisan payroll tax bill.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems, Republicans Negotiate On Two Tracks To Avoid A Government Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 1:37PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

Democratic and Republican sources say that a two track process will likely resolve the current standoff on Capitol Hill -- the key questions now are about timing and choreography.

House Republican and Senate Democratic appropriators are close to a deal to avert a government shutdown and fund federal programs through the end of September.

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Payroll Tax Cut

Boehner Outlines Path Forward In Government Shutdown Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 12:21PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama

At his weekly Capitol briefing, House Speaker John Boehner outlined a way around the current impasse in Congress that will result in a government shutdown if it's not resolved by Friday night. And it could alleviate Dem fears that Republicans are trying to jam them with partisan legislation that would renew the payroll tax cut and extend unemployment benefits, but with a significant number of poison pills thrown in.

"There's an easy way to untangle all of this," Boehner said in introductory remarks. "First I think Democrats should join Republicans and sign the conference report [on appropriations legislation] to fund our government. House and Senate appropriators have done their jobs. There's an agreement on a bill that would keep the government open. They've worked out all the details and shook hands, and the bill's done. It's bipartisan, it's bicameral, Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate are both ready to vote on this."

Here's part two:

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Government Shutdown

Pelosi To GOP On Funding The Government: You're On Your Own

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 11:31AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warns her GOP counterparts that they'll have to pass legislation to fund the government on their own, unless they quit playing hardball, return to negotiations and meet Democrats halfway on a number of key issues.

"I hope they have the votes for it," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly Captiol briefing, "because if they don't they won't be getting any cooperation from us."

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Government Shutdown

House GOP Pushes The Envelope In Shutdown, Payroll Tax Fight

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2011, 10:40AM

John Boehner

Late Wednesday night -- in the early hours of Thursday morning, really -- House Republicans decided to go all in on the latest government shutdown fight.

Testing the limits of compliance with their own rule that legislation be posted online for three days before a final vote, GOP leaders, over White House objections, unveiled major appropriations legislation that must pass by Friday at the stroke of midnight if Congress is to avoid a government shutdown.

The move raises one key question for each party. Can Republicans pass these appropriations on their own, if Democrats stick to their guns and withhold their votes. And, if the GOP succeeds, will Senate Democrats and President Obama hold their ground and block the legislation until a key policy issues are addressed, and the parties reach agreement on the separate issue of how to extend the current payroll tax cut into next year.

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Government Shutdown

Dems Consider Dropping Demands As Republicans Risk A Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2011, 4:59PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)

If it weren't for the filibuster, Democrats would have the GOP neatly over a barrel. But Republicans believe they've regained the upper hand -- and two developments suggest they're right.

Senate Democrats are now considering dropping their demand that a payroll tax holiday for workers be offset by imposing a small surtax on millionaires, according to Democratic aides -- resigning themselves to the fact that Republicans won't lift their filibuster if the surtax stands.

That'd leave a substantial funding hole in the bill, and it's unclear what would fill it. One option being considered is having mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders higher fees -- a version of this measure is already in the House-passed payroll tax cut bill.

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Government Shutdown

Reid, McConnell Trade Tactics On Senate Floor Over Looming Government Shutdown

Brian Beutler | December 14, 2011, 11:49AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

We're at that point again. The one where Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell try to prove they're not precipitating a government shutdown.

On the Senate floor Wednesday morning, each leader pulled a couple confusing procedural levers designed to prove the other is acting in bad faith.

To recap, last night the House passed partisan legislation to renew the expiring payroll tax holiday, replete with payfors and add-ons that led all but 10 Democrats to reject it. Democrats in the Senate don't want Republicans to leave town for the holidays and jam them with that bill so they're playing a bit of hardball. They've raised objections to a number of riders and provisions in separate legislation to fund the government, which will shutdown Friday night if appropriations aren't passed. If Republicans skip town, they're shutting down the government. And Reid is using this leverage to force Republicans to deal on Democrats' terms on both bills.

So what happened this morning?

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Payroll Tax Cut

Dems To GOP: Deal Fairly On Payroll Tax Or Shut Down The Government

Brian Beutler | December 13, 2011, 1:05PM

Senate Democrats and the White House are executing a strategy to prevent House Republicans from jamming them with legislation to extend the current payroll tax cut that's been larded up with GOP goodies, according to White House and Congressional aides. For all practical purposes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has linked the payroll tax issue -- and other key end-of-the-year issues -- with legislation to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. And he's presenting Republicans with a choice: deal in good faith on the payroll tax issue, or trigger a government shutdown.

Democrats were worried that House Republicans would close ranks around a version of a payroll holiday that included both must-pass items (such as an extension of unemployment insurance and a patch to prevent Medicare physicians from experiencing a severe pay cut on the first of the year) and GOP poison pills (including a provision forcing the Obama administration to give thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days)...then pass it and skip town, leaving Democrats little choice but to swallow their bill whole.

That's exactly the strategy they tried to execute -- and until late Monday it looked like it might work.

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