Less than two weeks before Christmas, Congressional Democrats have no idea how they’re going to finish up this legislative session. The new fiscal year began on October 1, and the current temporary funding measure that keeps the government running expires on Friday. If additional funding is not soon provided for the war on terror, the Pentagon will begin issuing thousands of furlough notices next week. It now seems that Democratic leaders are floating trial balloons on an hourly basis, trying to come up with some way to avoid providing additional funds for Iraq and/or permitting an increase in domestic spending to accommodate pork-barrel spending projects that they refuse to disclose. While it’s likely that Congress will be able to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open, it’s now difficult to imagine that it can quickly approve the billions needed for the Pentagon to continue with ongoing military operations. That means it’s very likely that civilian employees of the Department of Defense will start to get those furlough notices. The Hill now reports that Speaker Pelosi has retreated from her support of the Obey plan. (She called it ‘great’ yesterday; now it’s history.) Instead, Democratic leaders are calling for a package that meets the overall spending target set by the administration:
Of course, this is only one small (if important) concession. There’s no word yet on where the cuts will come to meet the spending target. There’s also no mention of funding for the troops–which House Democrats now seem unwilling to provide. It’s unlikely that moderate Democrats and Blue Dogs will accept a final package that leaves them on the hook for failing to support the troops. Many are likely to oppose this legislation unless they have assurances that more funds will be forthcoming. Senator Reid seems unsure about how to go forward, but apparently he has one demand that’s non-negotiable:
How are Democratic leaders handling the stress of trying to make sure the trains run–very late? Not all that well. Even David Obey doesn’t seem to think much of the way Harry Reid is running the Senate:
Of course, if Chairman Obey doesn’t buy Senator Reid’s defense that the Senate is virtually unmanageable, why should the rest of us?
