Per the Washington Post:
… In their final action of the year, the House approved the budget 332 to 94, with 169 Republicans and 163 Democrats voting in favor, and 62 Republicans and 32 Democrats voting against. Earlier Thursday, lawmakers agreed unanimously to approve the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military pay and policy, and to extend current agricultural policy after negotiators failed to complete a new Farm Bill.
The Senate is poised to pass the budget and defense bills next week. House and Senate leaders say that votes on a new Farm Bill will be held after Congress returns to Washington in early January…
If the Senate approves the budget bill next week, as expected, members of the House and Senate appropriations committees would then work over the holidays to prepare funding bills for individual government agencies, which are likely to be combined into a single omnibus bill. Although the agreement lessens the odds of another government shutdown when a temporary spending bill expires Jan. 15, the omnibus bill must pass before that deadline to keep the government open…
I personally hope Dave Weigel is right about this:
… It is a massive victory for Democrats, who took Social Security and Medicare cuts out of the conversation after two years of “Washington” insisting that they needed to happen.
And it’s also the funeral of Fix the Debt. No one’s taking selfies at this bash. Fix the Debt, the iconic “just use this current panic to cut entitlements” pressure group, spent at least $43 million to influence the conversation. Its reward: bupkis…
Trentrunner
Shame about the long-term unemployed moochers who were scrooged.
BGinCHI
Dave “Massive” Weigel needs to relax with the hyperbole.
PeakVT
Its reward: bupkis…
This is just wrong. Fix the Debt is part of the reason why the economy is performing so poorly. We should have been talking about infrastructure and jobs for the past two years, a.k.a. spending more. Instead, we’ve only managed to avoid spending drastically less.
Davis X. Machina
Obama will veto this. He has to veto this.
He’s been hell-bent on cutting SS and Medicare for years.
This budget doesn’t so much as implement a change to Chained CPI
MikeBoyScout
Let’s not forget the human and national tragedy of Sandy Hook.
Let’s not ignore our shame we’ve done little to prevent the next one.
Villago Delenda Est
The assclowns of “Fix the Debt” should be rounded up, waterboarded for every last location of their financial assets, aforementioned financial assets siezed, then summarily executed.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
Surely the optics of shutting down the government to prevent implementation of a budget that they themselves voted for almost 3-1 would be bad enough that they would never… Oh, shit, look who I’m talking about! Please proceed….
Also, the thought of my senator Murray having to work with that skidmark Ryan makes me want to secede.
MikeJ
@The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: I’m glad it was Murray doing the negotiating. She don’t take no shit off nobody.
I don’t understand why the “Warren for prez” people don’t look to somebody with more experience in the Senate.
max
Fix the Debt, the iconic “just use this current panic to cut entitlements” pressure group, spent at least $43 million to influence the conversation. Its reward: bupkis…
That’s good, yes, but Fix the Debt has not gone and died in a fire yet, so there’s still work to do.
max
[‘They should just spend the money on a Pretend Mitt Romney Won weekend on Aruba or something.’]
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@MikeJ:
Amen, brother! Murray/Cantwell 2016!
MikeJ
@The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: Actually unconstitutional. The Pres and President of Vice can’t be from the same state.
How about Jerry Brown for Vice?
kc
Whoops: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21879956-officials-us-drone-strike-kills-13-in-yemen-wedding-convoy?lite
Joe Buck
Obama was into the Grand Bargain because he likes looking like the serious bipartisan compromiser who gets things done. I don’t think he is ideologically committed to chained CPI. Since the Serious thing is now to pass this compromise, that is what he will do.
But the Fix the Debt people didn’t get bupkis, because there is no unemployment extension. That is a serious, serious cut.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@MikeJ:
Maria can move to Wyoming just before the election.
schrodinger's cat
Austerity Cat returns with this budget compromise. Not enough austerity for the serious people but still too much austerity for my liking. But a budget deal is better than the clown show of government shutdown and debt default that we just had.
Schlemizel
It bothers me greatly that people are actually thinking this is the end of the ‘fuck the debt’ crowd and somehow a retreat of the goopers and baggers
if they pause it is to gain time;
if they offer terms it is to break them: they keep no faith with enemies:
if you relax in your exertions, they persevere the more: if you make new efforts, they redouble theirs.
Karen in GA
@Trentrunner: Prisons, workhouses. Decrease the surplus population and all that.
burnspbesq
What, pray tell, does “preserve existing agricultural policy” mean? SNAP lives to fight another day?
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman:
Didn’t stop the deserting coward and the Dark Lord.
Anoniminous
@Villago Delenda Est:
IIRC Cheney registered Wyoming as his home state … checking … yup. Sold his house in Dallas and “moved” to Wyoming.
ETA: Forcing the Pres. and Veep to be from different states is a stupid, meaningless, provision anyway.
dmsilev
@Anoniminous: And now of course the Dark Daughter wants to claim the Wyoming Senate seat as her rightful due.
I can’t wait until the Earth opens up and swallows that entire clan. They’d just be heading home after all.
Matt McIrvin
@Anoniminous: Technically they don’t have to be from different states, but if they are from the same state, the electors from that state aren’t allowed to vote for both of them (which would have been a problem for Bush and Cheney, of course). I’m sure it made sense in 1787.
wilson
Massive win for Dems? No. Hoodwinked again. Who looks good and strong here? Tanman and his minions.
What you do here is leverage up. Put unemployment extension, gun control, climate change, Guantanamo, and the kitchen sink into this. Why? Talking points, pressure, edge; drive the TP wedge hard into the core Repubs.
What if they whine about unreasonable Dems? If you can’t out message these clowns, gtf out of the kitchen.
This deal sucks and shows again the lack of a jugular instinct on the part of the Dems.
Suffern ACE
@Matt McIrvin: so we would have ended up with Bush/Edwards? That would have been fun. And a lot better than what we got.
raven
@wilson:
What
ever
jl
I don’t know whether Boehner is for real, but I do know he is orange, and non-orange people should just accept that. Not sure about the history the semi-mythical folkloric character of Johnny Bones. I’ll have to read up on it.
Jeremy
@wilson: Well the republicans and the conservative media don’t agree with you. If you believe that the republicans who control the house will just cave and agree to every demand from the democrats then you must be smoking something. And if the government were to shut down because the democrats refused to do anything then they would get the blame.
Suffern ACE
Does this take care of the debt ceiling for now as well?
fuckwit
Man those goalposts need to be moved waaaay back again, but this is definitely going in a good direction!
Yeah, damn glad that when you stand up to bullies and terrorists, they back down. We did that. Big kudos to soon-to-be-Speaker-again Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama. They defused the terrorist’s bombs.
So we are back where we were before the last hostage crisis, or maybe the one before that. Which is better than having another and another. We stilll have a lot to do.
How about Immigration Reform next? Repealing the PATRIOT Act and AUMF? Raise the MOTHERFUCKING minimum wage?
Whose agenda? OUR AGENDA! Whose agenda? OUR AGENDA!
Jeremy
@Joe Buck: Well even the Chained CPI proposal included a new benefit and protections for the poor and very elderly. Also Obama included tax increases and the removal of tax loopholes so he knew they would never accept it because they can’t stand tax increases on the wealthy.
Jeremy
The democrats are already pushing hard for an extension of unemployment benefits and already the local news papers and channels are talking about it. I think the republicans will cave to pressure like they did with the payroll tax cut, the previous extensions, and the student loan rate extension.
El Caganer
@Jeremy: That was singularly dumb of the Republicans not to include an unemployment extension of some kind in the package. Now it’s a stand-alone, and the Dems can beat up on them. Whether the Dems will beat up on them is another kettle of worms.
fuckwit
@Anoniminous: Remember that the original 13 states thought of themselves as independent nations, reluctantly and somewhat warily joining a new federation. They were terrified of– among other things– one state growing in power to dominate all of them. Keep in mind, also, that a significant chunk of those states owned slaves too… the shadow of the Civil War was already overhanging a great deal of what ended up in the new Constitution. Maybe stuff like this seems archaic and silly now, but it was probably a big deal then.
Mike in NC
If you happen to live in a state with a Republican governor and/or legislature, odds are extended unemployment benefits have already gone away, and they ain’t coming back.
Suffern ACE
I suppose its just me, but isn’t the real winner here the military, who gets its appropriation? What if, say, Congress decides to not pass the others? Do the other departments just operate their programs?
Redshift
@MikeJ:
That part actually makes sense. Having long experience in the Senate means you’ve inevitably voted for a lot of things that can be used against you. Supposedly it’s part of the reason why few presidents have been former senators.
Bobby Thomson
@Davis X. Machina: There are tradeoffs. Now he can finance his wars in Syria and Iran and the NSA death squads.
Suffern ACE
@Redshift: I will never vote for a Senator running for President in the primary again. Democrats had better find me a governor who isn’t from Massachusetts. Because I will never vote for someone from Massachusetts again, either.
NotMax
@MikeJ
The track record of sitting senators successfully winning election as president is abysmal.
Here’s the complete list: Harding, Kennedy, Obama.
wilson
Jeremy – I don’t want them to cave. I want them to freak and continue their internecine fighting. Remember the spending limits in this budget represent a huge Dem cave.
MSM doesn’t agree? Great! I read better stuff on this blog daily than their tripe. And that’s why I know we can beat this. Here’s how you do it.
Take my list (add immigration too). Then when the pearl clutching starts, fall back a touch. “Well Dancin Dave, we realize Repubs will NEVER compromise on immigration, we’ve reluctantly taken it off the table in the spirit of compromise.”. Make them own it.
Unemployment? “No Dancin Dave, non-negotiable. Did you know one of your colleagues (insert true tale of an unemployed NBC worker/ classic Reagan anecdotal technique). He/she and their family is suffering this CHRISTMAS season. Will YOU relegate them to the fate of NO income as championed by the Repubs? Really, will you?” Get Dave to DISOWN this and by definition change the narrative. Make him own it.
This is not hard to.
Ben
@Suffern ACE:
In 2000? Bush/Lieberman. Not much better than what we got…
Reasonable 4ce
@NotMax:
… and Obama didn’t really end the poor track record of sitting Senators who run for President, because McCain was one too. One of them had to win.
Suffern ACE
@Ben: @Ben: drat. Wrong election. Although Lieberman in the whitehouse would have spared the net roots the humiliation of trying to unseat him in Connecticut and losing
Suffern ACE
@Reasonable 4ce: the powers that be weren’t giving us much to choose from on the Dem side. All three major candidates were senators or recently former senators. Four if you think Biden was a major candidate.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@NotMax:
You forgot Jefferson Davis.
themann1086
@El Caganer: Dems have been smacking them around in the local media all week. It’s been nice to see.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax serves as a channeling mechanism for the demons of the right:
Ralph Reed: Vote ‘No’ on Budget Deal
Fuck you, Ralph. But not with my dick. Perhaps some big blah dude will volunteer to take the hit.
KG
Daily Show having fun with Megyn Kelly tonight
KG
@Villago Delenda Est: I’d suggest an artificial dick, no sense in traumatizing anyone (other than Ralph)
DTOzone
@wilson:
No one can out message those clowns.
The president cannot even go to a funeral without the media exploding over a pic he took with another world leader and whether or not he has the hots for her.
Omnes Omnibus
@DTOzone: To be fair, he also shook hands with Satan’s brother (a/k/a the representative of another sovereign nation).
piratedan
believe this is a case of don’t let the “not as crappy” be the enemy of “this currently sucks, and we can’t improve it because the other side has so many assholes”. If some sequester stuff is restored (SNAP, etc) it’s better than the current shitburger that is in existence currently. If it creates howls of derision and betrayal from the 14th century club, fine, let them deal with it within their own ranks if it pulls the political weapons outta their hands from continuing to hold the country hostage financially for the next two years. That means that those fuckers now have to deal in policy and politics and they won’t have the country as a hostage. Is it perfect, no.. but considering that there’s a loud faction over on the other side waiting and itching to burn it all down, I’ll take the disarmament option tyvm.
Mike in NC
@Villago Delenda Est: I always thought Ralph Reed and David Duke would make a dreamy couple. Throw in Lindsey Graham for a cracker threesome.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: Until we wrest control of the House from the GOP, a good budget is impossible.
scav
@Mike in NC: Ralph Reed and David Duke with Lindsey Graham for a cracker threesome? I’m somehow thinking white chocolate s’more. Which one’s the better marshmallow?
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: no argument from me on that score OO, all we can do is try and limit the damage until then. Sure hope we can wrest control in 2014 and if the deal reads as I understand it, it removes the hostage taking element of the financials from the House and that means that these same honored legislatures that have done so little in the last year other than turning the needs of the nation into a daily soap opera, I’ll be happy. This means that they’ll either have to impeach the President or sit on their hands and do nothing for another year because any “policy” that these guys put forth is likely to hurt them (i.e. the GOP) because their positions are completely out of step with the nation. I certainly don’t expect the “moderates” (code for Not Completely Batshit Insane) to wrest control of their party again.
Suffern ACE
@Omnes Omnibus: yes, but despite a poor Oxford comma, that wasn’t leading to sexy speculation. So it is dropped.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: So if Raul was blond…?
Suffern ACE
@Omnes Omnibus: and 40 years younger. At his age, the worry wasn’t that the president was exchanging body heat with Castro. The wonder is that Castro has any body heat to share.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: Just wait until the righties glom on to the fact that Danish PM is married to the son of Neil Kinnock from whom Biden alleged plagiarized.
Jay C
Well, just my two cents (and doubtless overpriced at that), this budget deal isn’t quite a ” massive” victory, but at least a VERY advantageous draw. First, it has hamstrung the Teabaggers in the House – and if that makes John Boehner look like a Great Fuxking Statesman instead of a hapless Scotch-sodden buffoon, so be it – secondly, it puts off at least one excuse for the House extremists to try to monkey-wrench the government for a few months. Which can’t be all bad.
Joel
Looks like the sequester is still in place for many of us, though. I wouldn’t call this a massive victory by any means. A semi positive stalemate is about as far as I could stretch it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Joel: Like I said above, we won’t get a real budget victory until we again have control of the House
Jay C
@Omnes Omnibus:
Naah, all they’re likely to care about is that Helle Thorning-Schmidt is A) a hot Danish blonde: B) somehow culpable in some sort of vague “scandal” involving Barack Obama; C) a hot blonde.
Tabloid logic..
balconesfault
@Suffern ACE: Actually – we would have ended up with Bush/Lieberman.
Wrap your head around that one for awhile …
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay C: Oh, the Kinnock connection will show up. There are enough conspiracy weirdos on the right that it will happen,
The Raven on the Hill
Another such victory and we are undone.
My unemployment runs out on my birthday. Thanks, Democrats.
Besides, this also means that the Republicans don’t get to lose the next election by doing something so egregiously foolish that the public can see just how awful they are. (Though, they still might.)
Just another day in the progress of the conservative party and the more conservative party.
John Casey
@efgoldman: Not exactly. The constitution says (see Amendment XII) that a state’s electors must cast their ballots for a Pres and a Vice, at least one of which must not be a resident of their state. So, if the two Senators from Washington State were to be a ticket, Washington States electors could only vote for one of them. The electors of the other states would not be so constrained.
Ripley
@scav: That’s sick, dude.
(Lindsey would be the marshmallow, you can see how much he wants it.)
Skippy-san
Except the bill as written screws a lot of people who don’t receive entitlements-but contractual rewards. Military retirees get fucked. Federal employees get a trible whammy: No pay raise, pay more for their retirement ( a pay cut) and their 401K matching gets hurt. No continuation of unemployement benefits. AND NOT ONE RICH BASTARDS TAXES gets raised!
Charles Pierce points out well, that the Zombie Eyed Granny Starver, who could not be bothered to serve one day in his useless life, is the unchanged father of all this.
Rob in CT
Yeah, I’m really not seeing a “massive win” here. It’s a small win at best, with real downside baked in.
jayboat
@scav:
Thanks so much for the visual… wasn’t Rodman around ?
The north koreans were busy and sent him as a rep, right?
gelfling545
@The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge: No, no, no. These people are desperately needed right where they are!!! This is no time to mess with the Senate. I guess you could say I feel strongly about this.
Pogonip
@KG: Never listen to a woman who cannot correctly spell her own name.