re: #30 Targetpractice

All of this is a harbinger for the coming fight over funding the government. If House Republicans can’t pass a position of its own, then the Senate will call the shots (its Transportation/HUD bill will probably pass on a bipartisan basis this week) and appropriations will be extended past September on the strength of Democratic votes.

It also suggests that the GOP’s preference for permanent sequestration-level spending, particularly relative to increasing taxes, is not politically viable. If they want to lift the defense cuts, they’re going to have to either return to budget negotiations with Democrats, or agree to rescind sequestration altogether.

But it raises much bigger, existential questions for the Republicans as a national party. If they can’t execute key elements of their governing agenda, even just to establish their negotiating positions opposite the Democrats, what can they do, and what argument can they possibly make for controlling more (or all) of Washington?