The
showdown between the defense hawks and the deficit hawks among House Republicans appears to have been resolved and the House might just
pass a budget this week, when six budget measures will be considered. It's looking like House Speaker John Boehner's problem children might be backing down on this one, remarkably.
In fact, Boehner's unusual gambit to bring multiple budgets to the House floor was the product of negotiations with the group of House firebrands. Having a hand in how the chamber considers the budget seems to have gone a long way toward winning enough votes to ultimately pass the spending blueprint on the floor.
"We're not the caucus of no. We're a group trying to get to yes," said Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.). "We believe we have a very different guiding set of principles on balancing the budget and getting back to regular order. Doing things the right way are extremely important to us."
What this means is more defense spending, but Boehner let the leaders of the problem children in the room negotiate it, so they feel appeased. They're also undoubtedly very pleased that the budget
slams the poor with $5.5 trillion cuts that will slash food stamps and Medicaid in particular. Of the three Republican budgets offered, this one negotiated between Boehner and the crazies will likely prevail. Then the Senate
will have the same fight, where getting to 51 votes might be an even bigger challenge for Mitch McConnell than Boehner has had.
In all of this, there's just one budget that every Democrat in the House needs to stand behind, the People's Budget. It's the budget created by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the budget that reflects the reality of a nation coming out of recession. It's the budget that Democratic voters—and would-be voters—could coalesce behind.
Call your Democratic congressional representative today and urge him or her to vote for the People's Budget.