There are, of course, legislative and political reasons behind this stalemate. The question, though, is do they make any sense outside of the 202 area code?
Does anyone honestly believe a victim of Hurricane Irene floodwaters cares whether or not House and Senate Democrats have found unity in their fight with Republicans over disaster funding? Washington tends toward insularity and always has. It always feels a bit alien and characterized by inordinate navel-gazing, partisan high-fiving, and slow-moving legislative chess matches. But even by these standards, this week's stalemate appears to have reached a new low of cloakroom craziness--where something that seems justified in the cloakroom (building party unity, scoring legislative points, shielding sacred cows) looks like malpractice to the average taxpayer.
Not only is Congress tied in knots over providing $3.6 billion in disaster assistance, it can't agree to keep the government operating until Nov. 18.
Nov. 18?!?! Congress is supposed to keep the government open for a full year. It's supposed to pass budget resolutions and appropriations bills and do so before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. It now looks upon a short-term stopgap spending bill as a legislative mountain to climb. A mountain? By any standard, it's an anthill. Mature governments in First World countries do this nonchalantly.
Everyone on Capitol Hill has said they want to work in good faith. Everyone says the stakes are high. Everyone says they are seeking common ground. But, just as with the debt ceiling, the first instinct is to dig trenches deeper.
Everyone is to blame: The administration was slow to move on disaster funding, ignoring House GOP demands to engage on the question as the House drafted and passed in June a Homeland Security spending bill that boosted disaster aid over Obama's request by $2 billion. Senate Democrats did almost nothing to move a Homeland Security spending bill in response to the House bill. House Republicans chose to offset some of its disaster funding by cutting funding to a program it knew the administration valued--the Advanced Vehicle Manufacturing Loan program that seeks to fund the development of fuel-efficient vehicles. The House GOP didn't cut any of its favored programs, only one it knew the administration wanted to protect.
Senate Democrats don't want to budge, because they believe the vehicle manufacturing program creates jobs and pursues a legitimate policy goal--accelerating the development of cars with better fuel efficiency. But the reality is the program, according to the Department of Energy, has more than $4 billion in unobligated funds. The administration is trying to move those funds out the door as rapidly as possible, another reason it doesn't want to see a cut of $1.5 billion. When the House GOP failed to pass its continuing resolution this week, it rallied its troops in part by adding another cut of $100 million to the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program that funded the now-bankrupt Solyndra. That move struck Democrats as punitive, political, and divisive--intensifying partisan tensions.
