House Leaders Plot New Fall GOP Strategy
After an exhausting October full of late-night and weekend votes, the slower pace is a sharp change for the House.
Having just gotten through a grueling debt ceiling and government funding fight, the next big deadline is Dec. 13, when a bipartisan group of House and Senate budget negotiators are scheduled to report whether they have reached an agreement. There appears to be a stark split within Republican leadership about whether the budget process Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is starting has any chance of succeeding. Some House Republicans believe these bicameral talks are a political trap, where Democrats are going to insist on raising taxes. Other top House GOP aides think it’s the best way to wrap up a deal to fund the government through the 2014 election cycle and remove the issue from the front pages until after voters have gone to the polls.
Throughout leadership and the House Republican Conference there’s a sense of bewilderment and confusion about what leadership will move to next. The fiscal fights with President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats have pushed the GOP’s numbers to barrel-scraping lows. And there’s a real sense that Republicans could lose control of the House next year.
More: House Leaders Plot New Fall GOP Strategy - Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan
