Republican leaders in Congress may have the
goal of making voters believe that Republicans are "responsible" and not "scary," but to have any shot at that, they'll have to, you know, govern. In responsible, not scary ways. That's a tall order for this party, especially given the list of issues Congress
will have to tackle in the coming months. First, they'll have to deal with the fact that—because of the Republican temper tantrum on immigration reform—funding for the Department of Homeland Security runs out at the end of February. Then:
In March, Congress has to deal, once again, with the extremely pricey formula by which the government reimburses Medicare providers — known inside the Beltway as the “doc fix.” Washington has punted on changes to the formula for years, but there is a desire to fix the problem for good. That would cost billions of dollars and could drive fiscal conservatives mad.
The highway trust fund will become insolvent in May, and federally funded infrastructure projects across America will grind to a halt if nothing is done. Congress will have to work out a new funding mechanism — the gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and fuel-efficient cars have steadily decreased its buying power. Raising the tax is politically difficult, so Boehner, McConnell and the transportation chairmen will have to work out another funding mechanism — or turn to another unpopular general fund bailout, rather than risk a construction shutdown.
The debt ceiling isn’t far behind — the nation’s borrowing authority will need to be extended sometime between the late spring or early fall.
Bear in mind that the debt ceiling shouldn't be a giant political football—it was raised routinely through bipartisan votes until Republicans decided it was a weapon to use against President Obama. But having created this political weapon, they're unlikely to drop it just to look responsible. And highways? Republicans have established that they're more okay with allowing roads and bridges to crumble than with voting for any of the many ways to fund fixes—not just raising the gas tax, but, for instance, closing corporate tax loopholes. On oil companies, even!
So basically, Republicans are about to be faced with a series of political crises that are only crises because Republicans previously found it politically helpful to blow them up. And now, Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are going to want credit for being responsible enough to kinda sorta do their jobs, even if the solutions they push end up being terrible for the country. And even if the main people standing in the way of any solutions whatsoever are other Republicans.