A Victory for Bipartisanship and Centrism, As Far As That Goes Nowadays

So the House of Representatives this morning passed a bipartisan bill to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avert a government default while cutting federal spending. A compromise was constructed by President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party and House Speaker McCarthy of the Republican Party, and it had broad support from a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. This is the way government is supposed to work, and it used to be called “business as usual.” But in an era of intense political polarization it is unusual, and so it is worth taking a moment to understand why that is.

First of all, the stakes were high. If the government ran out of money and defaulted on its financial obligations, the effects would have been ruinous. Experts predicted an economic catastrophe would take place, with the stock market tanking and unemployment skyrocketing, and not only the American but the international economy devastated. So there was more incentive than usual for Democrats and Republicans to strike a deal. And they did. President Biden and Speaker McCarthy brokered a bill which raised the debt limit and kept the government running and able to pay its bills (for now, at least).

The fact that Democrats and Republicans have such trouble every compromising and passing needed and important legislation is the real scandal. Today was business as it should be. I wrote back in the 2022 midterm elections that I was happy to see divided a government in Washington D.C. between Democrats and Republicans. “Now compromise and do the business of the country,” were the instructions given to the legislators. That they fail to do so shows their irresponsibility and failure to do what they were elected to do. The government in America was designed to be slow and to force compromise between political parties and branches of government. Any fool can see this.

But in the last decades the animosity between the political parties has increased to such a point where compromise becomes difficult or impossible. Each side wants its own way, and neither side wants to compromise. So they don’t compromise, and nothing gets done. I still remember in 2020 when Joe Biden was elected and Democrats also took control of both houses of Congress. Some highly partisan Democrats thought they would bring in Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico as states, get rid of the Senate filibuster, expand the Supreme Court, and thereby enjoy one party (ie. the Democratic Party) rule indefinitely without the need to compromise. It didn’t happen. It was never going to happen.

So who dislikes this compromise bill which raises the debt ceiling, forces some budget cuts, and keeps the government from defaulting? The Progressive Left and the Far Right – the “Progressive Caucus” and the “House Freedom Caucus,” as they call themselves. They don’t like this compromise bill brokered by Biden and McCarthy. But the extreme left and right in the House don’t have enough votes to block the majority of more moderate Democrats and Republicans from passing the bill, despite their loud objections. This fact makes me enormously happy. Congratulations, House of Representatives! Thank you for doing your job. Well done, Speaker McCarthy.

First, let’s look at the hard Left. “The Progressive Caucus,” with persons like Pramila Jayapal and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, argued they could not support the bill and criticized it because of new work requirements for safety net programs and other environmental programs they did not like. Any cuts at all to SNAP or other welfare programs are unthinkable and unacceptable. They would let the government go into default before they would compromise on those issues, and that is about par for the course. Ocasio Cortez, in particular, has been almost the lone vote in many instances of congressional legislation where almost the entire rest of the House voted against her. Is there anything more inefficacious and feckless than a lone legislator, like AOC, unable to cobble together majorities and get legislation passed? Such loudmouth legislators can make noise and a stink, but that’s about all they can do.

Next, let’s look at the far Right. Operating under the banner of the “House Freedom Caucus,” these conservative House members are attempting to play the spoiler exactly like the Progressive Caucus. They almost undid fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy when he sought to become Speaker, although it is unsure who else they wanted or what other choice there was; they were more interested in making a protest gesture than in finding a Speaker of the House, and that tells you a lot about them. These “MAGA radicals” just wanted to make a stink against “business as usual.” They are like vandals who want to deface walls with graffiti more than they want to paint murals of artistic value. They can burn a barn down, but they can’t build one. (Which is easier to do?) They are eminently irresponsible, and like Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, they are animated by anger and resort to grandstanding. They want to make an ideological point and stoke grass-roots anger. They are not that interested in actually governing. And they have little interest in compromise, in a political system which well nigh demands it. The far right as seen in Lauren Boebert and Majorie Taylor Green in Congress might be bigger assholes than the hard left like Cori Bush and Ilhan Omar, and that is saying something.

Some 29 far right Republicans broke ranks with the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, from their own Republican Party, to vote against the bill raising the debt ceiling. But 52 moderate Democrats, voting against the Progressive Caucus of their party, joined McCarthy and most Republicans in supporting the bill; those Democrats more than made up for the House Freedom Caucus rebellion against Speaker McCarthy. Good! Last night the House passed the proposed bill to raise the debt ceiling 314 – 117. Great! It is a relief. Even someone like me who only pays partial attention at best to politics took note of this achievement.

So centrist Democrats and moderate Republicans eschewed the extremes of their own parties, came together in bipartisan compromise, and passed an important bill. Who gives a shit what Pramila Jayapal and Greg Casar and Jim Jordan and Josh Hawley think? They are obstructers and posers posturing for the gallery and their social media followers, not responsible and constructive legislators working towards 50%+1 of both houses of Congress and the president’s signature. They lost in opposing this bill. That is as it should be, in my opinion. Good.

You get elected to Congress. You are sworn in. You are not some professor somewhere or a political activist. You are not some social media blowhard. You are in power. You have to deal with reality. You have to be pragmatic. You have to get shit done. You have to accept compromises. You have to build legislative majorities with other members of Congress, and the other political party. The universe does not only revolve around you and what you want. Grow up!

Or maybe you should leave Congress and start your own talk show? Find someplace more suitable for you and what you want to do?

The far right is upset this bill does not have far deeper spending cuts than they want. The hard left is upset that there are any spending cuts at all. The larger middle, eschewing the extremes, found a compromise between those two polar opposites which gets us through the day. Pragmatism, not ideology, ruled the day. 

The Senate is expected to pass the bill. The President is expected to sign it.

Good for you, Washington D.C.

Pragmatic Americans applaud you. Ignore the angry minorities from the far right and hard left. They do not represent most Americans. Bipartisan majorities, where and when they can be constructed, can override them. Firm up the political center, seek to build consensus, strive for bipartisanship, and govern the country as well as possible. 

And let Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and Marjorie Taylor Greene rant to their followers online and scream into the social media void.

And beyond emergency bills designed to prevent the default of the national government in the face of its financial obligations, like we see currently, seek to craft a long term budget which gets the American government to live within its means. Don’t spend more money than you take in. 

That works for me and my family. Why not the national government, too?