TUSSLES AMONG THE FOUR POLITICAL PARTIES IN WASHINGTON?

As of this morning, the panelists on a Milwaukee radio political show were of the view that if the Squad and the Freedom Caucus did not like whatever compromise the president and Congressional leaders came up with, it would probably be a decent outcome, until the next debt ceiling hassle in a year or two.  News reporting suggests it is not yet time to relax.

There is a communist wing and a corporatist wing of the Democratic Party, and a corporatist wing and a populist wing of the Republican Party, and herding cats is nothing compared to getting some sort of agreement on raising the debt ceiling and outlining the next Federal budget.

White House aides privately estimate they may need to deliver as many as 100 Democratic votes to ensure an eventual debt limit deal can pass the narrowly divided House, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.

The informal projection is driven by lingering doubts among Biden officials over House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ability to convince the vast majority of Republicans to back a bipartisan agreement — and the expectation that dozens of the GOP’s most conservative members are poised to rebel against any sign of a compromise.

Regime media see the situation in a predictable way.

McCarthy urged members to make sure vulnerable lawmakers would have plenty of campaign money from GOP coffers — even pledging that they would not be outraised by their opponents in the 2024 election cycle, the people said of the meeting, which took place at the Capitol Hill Club. (McCarthy’s office declined to comment.)

The overture reflects the GOP’s determination to stay unified behind spending cuts even as the nation heads toward the brink of a default, despite a rapidly approaching deadline, a White House suddenly eager to compromise and a Democratic-led effort to push a petition that could force a vote on raising the debt ceiling over McCarthy’s objections.

After refusing to negotiate for months, President Biden’s aides last week offered the GOP substantial concessions on the federal budget — including a freeze on spending for two years — that nonpartisan estimates have projected could cut deficits by as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

House Republicans do appear willing to drop some provisions in a bill the chamber approved last month to raise the debt ceiling, especially a call for Biden to abandon his student loan forgiveness program and to cancel some green energy tax credits. But they’re also determined to push for more concessions that weren’t even in that legislation. Not only have they ruled out Biden’s proposals to increase revenue by closing tax loopholes — traditionally a part of bipartisan deals to lower the deficit — but they are also insisting on increasing spending on the military, homeland security and veterans services while cutting funds for domestic programs. That would be a change from how a similar standoff was resolved in 2011, when the last bipartisan bill to raise the debt limit and cut spending passed — the Budget Control Act, which affected defense and nondefense budgets equally.

“The off-ramp here is to solve the problem, to spend less than we spent last year,” McCarthy told reporters Wednesday. “That’s not that difficult. They still want to spend more. You cannot do that. No household will do that.”

From the communist wing, Common Dreams antique Richard Eskow pours more scorn on the corporatist Democrats than on Republicans as a class.

The ultra-right wing of the far-right Republican Party seems willing to let the government default if it doesn’t get what it wants, but House Democrats have already sent a very different signal.

“We're willing to discuss freezing spending,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters. “That's an inherently reasonable position many in our party might even be uncomfortable with, but President Biden recognizes we're in a divided government situation.”

“Many in our party”? Jeffries can’t seem to hide his contempt for his own party’s left. But then, why should he bother? He knows that, unlike the right, House progressives always tend to fall in line. As Semafor’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig writes, “If Biden does manage to strike a deal with McCarthy, it seems unlikely Congressional Democrats would really vote to reject it and throw the stability of the entire global economy into question.”

Right. They’re the responsible ones—that is, the ones who always seem to lose. It’s a monkey-house hierarchy, with the far-right on top and the left on the bottom: Democrats always cave under Republican pressure, and progressive Democrats always cave under conservative Democratic pressure. Neither the Democratic Party leadership nor its left wing have figured out how to fight these tactics, despite decades of experience—and, in this case, despite legal workarounds for the debt ceiling threat.

Far right on top? That's not how the populist Freedom Caucus see things.

The conservative rebellion is a mirror of sorts to what President Biden is confronting on his left flank, with many Democratic lawmakers similarly skeptical of concessions.

The unrest on both fringes is raising new questions not just if a deal can be struck — but whether it could then even pass Congress in time to avoid a potential default on June 1.

That article also mentions the usual gimmicks of spending caps and un-appropriating money that hasn't yet been spent, and otherwise engaging in wishful thinking that scores out as "deficit reduction." I'm not impressed, and I bet, short or long term increase in the debt ceiling notwithstanding, there will be no regular order budget; rather the usual October nonsense of short-term or year-long continuing resolutions will again be the outcome.  It starts with Dementia Joe's proposed "compromise," which is all tax increases and none of it is serious.