Congress will avoid govt. shutdown if 'idiot politics' don't interfere: Blodget
The 113th Congress needs to pass a spending bill by midnight on Wednesday or the federal government will shutdown. Cue the drama. Cue the panic. Wait...what?
Despite the drama this outgoing Congress has enjoyed over the past two years, a spending bill—though temporary in nature-- is widely expected to pass in both chambers this week, even if at the 11th hour. After a long weekend of talks, negotiators in the House and Senate are reportedly near an agreement on details of a $1.1 trillion bill.
The market seems pretty confident a bill will pass, though short-term government shutdowns have had very little long-term effects on stocks anyway. But all bets are off with this Congress. It has already seen a 16-day government shutdown on its watch last year, not to mention several showdowns over raising the debt ceiling and a botched rollout of Obamacare.
Yahoo Finance’s Henry Blodget says there is always a chance for last minute “idiot politics” to knock a bill off course. “As an American citizen, I can say I just wish we would stop playing these stupid games,” says Blodget. “They can do whatever politicking they want, but ultimately our government is there to keep the government running. Period.”
Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, led a group of conservative Republicans last fall who dug their heels in on healthcare funding which led to a shutdown. This year, Cruz and fellow conservatives argue the GOP should only pass a short-term measure, and that the bill should cut funds for immigration services as a threat against President Obama’s executive order on immigration.
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But House Speaker John Boehner has expressed confidence that he will have the votes from both sides of the aisle this week to pass a bill without those ultra-conservative endorsements.
Come January 6 when the 114th Congress begins, the GOP will have control of both chambers: 54 Senate seats and 246 House seats. But many of the new seats won in November’s midterm election were taken by establishment Republicans, not the tea partiers that made in-roads in the 2010 elections on promises of reducing the national debt and federal budget deficit.
Whether or not the tea party voice gets muffled in the new Congress, Blodget believes the new make–up of Congress may eliminate the gridlock that has plagued the current session. “Maybe the Republicans can now actually own those ideas and move forward.”
What should be on the top of their list, says Blodget, is repairing and rebuilding the country’s bridges, roads and ports. “They can start - when we get into next year - start to maybe fix our infrastructure. That would be nice,” he says. “We’re not this third world country anymore.“
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