House Democrats passed a funding bill that also suspends the debt ceiling. It is almost certainly doomed in the Senate.
Summary
The House passed legislation Tuesday evening to fund the government past Oct. 1 and suspend the nation’s debt limit through next year.
- It was a party-line vote, 220-211, with Democrats supporting the measure and Republicans opposing it.
- With an evenly divided Senate and the necessity to get 60 votes in the upper chamber, the bill is expected to “go down like a fat guy on a seesaw” according to Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.
- If the House and Senate cannot get a bill to the President’s desk by midnight Oct. 1, the government will shut down.
- CNN characterized the political maneuvering in the Senate as a game of chicken, with Democrats daring Republicans to “spark a shutdown” while acknowledging Dems have no “plan B.”
- Washington Post slyly phrased the fight as a result of Senate Republican intransigence, saying they were prepared for “grinding the country to a halt” “out of opposition to President Biden’s broader agenda.”
- The New York Times noted the text of the bill was “released only hours before the House vote.”
- Fox Business noted some behind-the-scenes fighting among House Democrats. Progressives successfully stripped a provision that provided $1 billion in funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system to Israel.
- Newsmax interviewed former Sen. Rick Santorum who, in the midst of the government funding and debt limit debate, argued it is time for a Convention of States to force a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
- OANN highlighted Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s commitment that none of his Republican colleagues will help Democrats raise the debt ceiling, saying Democrats are going it alone on their “spending binge” and they should be forced to do the same on lifting the debt ceiling.
Return to Freespoke 
© Dallas Gerber, 2021
