On Another Doomsday Week in Congress
On Another Doomsday Week in Congress: Washington is in the midst of feeding us a four-part dramatic series called D.C. Roulette. In a plot twist, all four episodes are running at the same time. Over here we have Part 1a, Funding the Government. Followed closely by Part 1b, Raising the Debt Limit. Woven into those are Part 1c, Reconciliation on the Rocks. Let’s not forget that unfinished Part 1d, Passing the Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Bill. The hook for the viewing audience is if the Democrat’s fail at any of this, they are doomed in the 2022 midterms and by Mitch McConnell’s reckoning, forever and a day.

The Republicans are happily and resolutely playing all the villain parts. They simply have gone to the bleachers and have their cell phones on video to capture the chaos in the Democratic Party and the panic over our government grinding to a halt. Hey say the “patriots”, you kicked us out of the Directors chair, so you figure out how this ends.

The Dems are going to get Academy Awards for their roles. No one wrings their hands and cries over the calamity to come, better. In their political calculation, the worse they predict the outcome will be, the more they ratchet up the emotional anger at those who have cowardly abandoned their legislative responsibilities. They want this to end with them solving the problems and heroically grasping victory out of certain death.

The ratings aren’t all that high. America has watched this kind of doomsday mini-series before. We’ve seen the government shutdown. Since we really don’t give a rat’s ass about things that don’t directly impact ourselves, we aren’t too alarmed at government workers going unpaid, emergency services degrading, seniors missing Social Security checks and the like. We figure sooner or later, one side or the other will call “uncle”, and the ads will begin for the next part of this Netflix special. We’ve developed political callouses to manufactured “the sky is falling in”, drama that is our current vacuous politics.

To a certain extent, the public is right to keep their blood pressure down over all of this. Even if the R’s succeed in forcing a government shutdown and thwarting Biden’s signature legislation, sooner or later the cost to all involved, will be too great to ignore. But every time this mini-series is redone, it takes longer to get to that point. Ultimately the government will be funded, the debt limit will be raised, some form of Biden’s signature “people” legislation will pass and the infrastructure bill will become law. Remember all those millionaires in Congress need a working economy too. When all else fails, it’s reasonable to count on selfish self-interest to win the day.

The R’s know this so they have to set up straw men to knock down before they have to act. “If the government isn’t funded by this Thursdays, everything will grind to a halt”. “If the debt limit isn’t raised by mid-next month, the nation will run out of money”. “If Biden doesn’t get the entire $3.5m “families plan” by the end of this week, his Presidency is a failure”. Of course, all this is rubbish. Deadlines come and go. Options suddenly appear that weren’t talked about before. The judgement on both Biden’s leadership and the fitness of the R’s to retake the helm, is a summary decision that won’t happen until election day 2022.

The Dem’s need to keep working at a positive ending. However, the last time the R’s shut down the government, they were savaged. If it comes to that, it just might be the Dem’s that take a seat and watch the self-inflicted wounds to an opposition that overplayed its hand.

ihg 9-28-2021

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