Politics remains the art of compromise. Though not everyone likes to accept this, it’s a fact of governing when neither political party controls all the levers of power.
And so it is in Washington, with Democrat Joe Biden in the White House, his party in the majority in the Senate, but with Republicans holding the gavel in the House of Representatives.
Still, there are plenty in Congress who remain uncompromising. For members of this set, from both the political left and right, there are but two paths: my way or the highway.
That must not derail the compromise plan on the debt ceiling hammered out by Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Lawmakers from across the political spectrum got busy Sunday inveighing against the pact. The loudest grousing, as usual, came from those on the extremes. The hard-line right-wingers felt they’d been rolled by the president, getting almost nothing in return for their expected vote. Progressive Democrats, for their part, had their own quarrels with elements of the proposed measure.
This is the bill we’ve got, with votes soon. It must advance, ending the prospect of a first-ever default by the federal government. The alternative, with the government unable to meet its financial obligations on or about June 5, is too horrible to contemplate.
The measure would hold the line on many spending increases and would impose certain work requirements for those receiving some federal assistance. Both should please Republicans.
However, while the House GOP had battled to repeal some of the clean energy tax credits approved last year and to block Biden’s plan to erase significant student loan indebtedness, neither made it into the bill.
At the opposite end of the political spectrum, consider U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington State who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. When asked whether the president and party leadership should be concerned about getting progressives to back the proposed measure, especially given the work requirements, she didn’t mince words. “Yes, they have to worry,” she said. “Yes.”
To become law, the bill will need the backing of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers of the closely divided Congress.
It’s time for lawmakers to set aside their most uncompromising ways. If they bring this deal down, their fingerprints will forever be on a financial debacle.
— Tribune News Service
