Tuesday outgoing Speaker Boehner cleaned “the barn” for his presumptive successor, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), by declaring that a bipartisan majority will vote in favor of the budget deal negotiated between the White House and Congress. It raised the debt ceiling through March of 2017, which allows Republicans on the Hill to avoid another fiscal showdown during the 2016 cycle. Guy had a more in-depth analysis of the deal, the details, and its implications in the post-Boehner era.
Many conservatives are calling this deal a straight-up surrender that isn’t grounded in fiscal responsibility. At the same time, Boehner is leaving. If his press conference after the deal was announced was an indication of anything, it’s that he’s ready to leave. That, and he isn’t obligated to entertain conservative demands on spending cuts, or anything on their grocery list, to get this deal passed.
Yet, that’s the House side. Over in the Senate, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is not going to let this deal sail through so easily and prepares to filibuster it. He’s prepared to go all King Leonidas on it (via the Hill):
"This is exactly the opposite of what every conservative Republican in America wants, and I'm going to do everything I can to stop it," the Republican presidential candidate told The Hill."I will filibuster it, I'll delay it, I'll shout about it. I'm going to talk about it until I'm tired of talking about it and until people wake up and say this is wrong for the country," he added.
The House is poised Wednesday to approve a two-year government funding bill that raises the spending caps set in 2011 while avoiding a potential default on U.S. loans.
The Washington Post's Dave Weigel wrote that Paul did the exact same thing in 2011, which ended with Paul's balance budget amendment failing to pass, with the debt ceiling compromise being sent to Obama's desk. This time around, Weigel added, Paul intends to deny unanimous consent on the House bill, force the Senate to work through the weekend, and give the House Freedom Caucus more time to muster opposition votes.
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