Here's how useless Congress is: A conference committee of the House and Senate, dominated by the majority of Republicans, are hammering out a budget blueprint based on the two chambers' passed bills. But the budgets each of them brought to the negotiations are fairy dust, "balanced" without increasing revenue and including big increases to defense spending and massive cuts on the domestic side that will never actually be voted on because actually voting on them would be politically suicidal. Nonetheless, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Deficit peacock)
is refusing to sign it, mad because this imaginary budget uses "gimmicks" of which he does not approve.
The budget accord awaiting Mr. Corker's signature would use parliamentary language called "reconciliation instructions" to allow Congress this year to repeal the Affordable Care Act using legislation that could not be filibustered and could pass the Senate with 51 votes instead of the usual 60. But President Obama would still veto it.
The agreement calls for the budget to balance over the next decade by paring entitlements like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security by $1.2 trillion. Medicare would be cut by $431 billion, education and job training by $162 billion. Beyond the strict spending caps set in 2011, the Republican budget assumes still further cuts of $496 billion to domestic discretionary programs. Any increase in spending over those caps would prompt automatic spending cuts, called "sequestration."
The Republican-driven accord also rolls back parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street regulatory law passed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
Republican leaders have given no indication that Congress will actually draft the legislation to carry out the cuts, such as a bill to turn Medicaid and food stamps into block grants for the states.
Corker's problem in this whole charade is this: "an obscure maneuver called 'changes in mandatory programs,' which allows lawmakers to spend more on programs at their annual discretion by delaying spending on some 'mandatory' programs that operate under fixed rules." Never mind that the budget blueprint they pass will not be binding, Corker is upset that this accounting trick they are using might actually allow for some additional funding to be allocated to some things and that is wrong. He's having a hard time giving up on that whole austerity thing.
Meanwhile, even his fellow Republicans are letting it go. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) wants (what else?) even more defense spending. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who coincidentally is running for re-election, wants more money for Pell Grants. Bipartisan and bicameral members want more money for the FDA to speed up its drug approval process. And, as always, on "the revenue side of the ledger, the House is showing little concern for the deficit." They are saying the revenue side of the budget will hold steady, but at the same time they're going to repeal Obamacare and it's $1 trillion in taxes and they've already passed "$405 billion in tax cuts, with $181 billion more approved by the House Ways and Means Committee and awaiting floor action."
And all this is likely to consume the next week or two in Congress as Corker continues to balk. Because it's not like there's actual real work that needs doing.