House Republican leadership is making another big push to break the impasse over passing a budget, one of those things House Speaker Paul Ryan promised he would accomplish when he took over the gavel from John Boehner. His team's challenge has been crafting a budget that includes the $30 billion in new spending agreed to in the bipartisan deal last year and that the moderates, the defense hawks, and the Freedom Caucus types could all agree to, and that has a chance in the Senate. The latest plan they're pushing won't make that last hurdle.
Key to the sales pitch is a plan to offset the cost of the increased spending for the annual appropriations bills by slashing funding or finding savings elsewhere in the budget, such as in Medicaid and social services grant programs. […]
The bulk of the proposed savings would come from three bills introduced last week by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas). The committee is expected to consider legislation Wednesday that would to cut $98 billion over 10 years. One bill would require taxpayers to include a Social Security number when filing for the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit, another would require taxpayers to repay any improper payments of health care subsidies. The third provision would phase out block grants for social service programs. […]
The Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled this week to consider an additional $25 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Obamacare Prevention Fund.
Ryan wants to have the needed 218 votes to pass the budget come from Republicans, and if that's going to be the proposal, he'll have to. He won't get any Democrats voting for that and Senate Democrats would certainly reject it, which means they'd be back this fall in a familiar place—having to pass a year-end, catch-all funding bill. Those continuing resolutions are always subject to shenanigans as the House maniacs threaten a government shutdown if they don't get their way. The fact that there's also an election this fall might just temper their demands, but it being an election year hasn't seemed to make much difference to them so far.
Add this internal fight among House Republicans, between them and Mitch McConnell, to McConnell's own battles over a Supreme Court nomination and Republicans are going to prove definitively this year that they are not capable of governing. On top of that, they'll have Donald Trump leading their ballot in the fall. It's not a political party anymore. It's a Dumpster fire.