All eyes in Washington are understandably focused on House Republicans and whether they will be able to unite behind a strategy for resolving the upcoming fiscal battles.
Will Republicans fight Obamacare on the continuing resolution or the debt limit? What is their biggest priority, cutting spending or defunding/delaying Obamacare? We don’t yet know the answers to these questions.
But what about the other side? What do Democrats want? What do they hope to accomplish over the next three months. The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent spoke with Democrats on Capitol Hill and found their priorities are more spending and higher taxes.
“The view from the Dem side is that the House GOP is currently imploding amid potentially irreconcilable divisions over how aggressively to confront Obamacare,” Sargent writes.
“If House Republicans pass something temporarily funding the government at current levels, i.e. $988 billion over 10 years, and Senate Dems demand more — say, at the rate of their $1.058 trillion budget — that ultimately won’t help Dems.”
If Democrats demand more spending in a short-term CR, Sargent explains, House Republicans can easily say no and then successfully shift the blame for a shutdown for Democrats.
Instead, Sargent reports, Democrats will probably sign whatever comes out of the House on a short-term CR, as long as it doesn’t touch Obamacare. Then they will push hard for a long-term fix to undo the sequester that involves tax hikes. Sargent thinks a small tax hike that undoes one full-year of the sequester is possible.
Whatever else you may think about Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s current fiscal strategy, Sargent’s reporting shows that the Republican leadership is right about one thing: Undoing sequestration is probably Republicans’ biggest leverage point going into the fiscal negotiations.
If any progress is going to be made on delaying Obamacare, it is going to come from undoing the sequester.
From the Washington Examiner
Michael Barone: Illuminating observations on the financial crisis
Byron York: House immigration reformers stuck in neutral
Joel Gehrke: Assad tells Obama to stop arming rebels, or no deal
Conn Carroll: Senate conservatives argue Cantor plan is cover for red state Democrats
Ashe Schow: Why is the Education Department peddling Obamacare?
Phil Klein: Tom Coburn takes up House-passed Obamacare anti-fraud bill
Tim Carney: Nominating Larry Summers may require Obama skirting his own ethics rules — again
Charlie Spiering: John Hickenlooper nervously defends gun control laws after Colorado recalls
Tim Mak: The Heritage Foundation gets tough
Joseph Lawler: Politics in Washington could disrupt the economy
Sean Lengell: Justin Amash emerges as leading anti-war voice
Susan Ferrechio: Trapped by his own rhetoric, Obama gets a lifeline from Russia
In Other News
The Wall Street Journal: Elite Syrian Unit Scatters Chemical Arms Stockpile
The New York Times: Boehner Seeking Democrats’ Help on Fiscal Talks
The New York Times: Listing Demands, Assad Uses Crisis to His Advantage
McClatchy Newspapers: U.S. Consulate in Afghanistan is attacked
The Los Angeles Times: California Legislature approves raising minimum wage to $10
Lefty Playbook
Peter Beinart: The Rise of the New New Left
Ryan Lizza: Could Obama’s Syria diplomacy lead to war?
Kevin Drum: Dems Getting Ready to Roll Over on Budget Yet Again
Greg Sargent: How Dems view this fall’s fiscal fights
Righty Playbook
Peter Wehner: The Collapse of the Obama Presidency
Conor Friedersdorf: Obama Acts Like He Doesn’t Know He’s an Executive-Power Extremist
Eliana Johnson: A police report contradicts Cory Booker on key details
Erick Erickson: The Establishment’s Projection
