A resolution is within reach

Republicans say the holdup is over the need to reduce Washington spending — that Democrats, including the President, would rather see the government shut down than to allow a reduction in the size and scope of Washington that is perfectly reasonable by any objective standard.

Those are the competing messages. And generally speaking, people will probably agree with the party they tend to vote for. But whichever side you come down on, two things are not in dispute in this debate.

First, that the whole reason we’re in this mess is that Democrats abdicated their responsibility to keep the government funded through this year.

And second, that Democrats have rejected the only plan out there that keeps the government open — the bipartisan Troop Funding Bill — for no apparent reason.

The President says he’ll veto it, but doesn’t say why. And Democrats in Congress won’t vote for it, even though it funds the Defense Department and keeps the government operational and makes reasonable cuts in spending.

In other words, what Democrats are saying at this point is that they’d rather see the government shut down either because they won’t accept a modest amount of spending cuts that fall well within the range of what Democrats previously described as reasonable, or because they won’t reinstate a longstanding policy related to one American city that members of both parties, including Presidents of both parties, have approved repeatedly in the past.

The Majority leader said yesterday that this particular provision relates to an issue that we’ve been unable to reach agreement on for 40 years. My response is that this is actually one of the few areas of agreement both parties have agreed about on this issue for years.

Let’s be very clear about this: if the government shuts down, it’s either because Democrats are pretending that a previously non-controversial provision is suddenly out of bounds. Or they refuse to take another baby step in the direction of balancing the government checkbook, something we know the American people want. Neither reason is worth a shutdown — especially when neither side actually wants one. And that’s why I believe there will be an agreement here shortly. I’ve been in many negotiations over the years. I assure you, these are not un-resolvable issues.

So my suggestion this morning is that both sides sit back and give the negotiators a few more hours to work this out.

Let Senator Reid talk with his conference. Let the Speaker talk to his. And let’s just hold off on the speculation and the back and forth for a little while here. Both sides are working hard to reach the kind of resolution Americans want. 

A resolution is within reach. The contours of a final agreement are coming into focus. There is virtually nothing in the troop funding bill Republicans in the House passed yesterday that won’t be included in a final package.

Let’s not disrupt and derail that agreement.