While Americans flock to see “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” two original Hollywood blockbusters, here in Washington we’re watching the telltale signs of a tired sequel take shape: another government shutdown.
Who wants to see that? For starters, not the credit agencies, one of which, Fitch, just downgraded the U.S. debt rating based on “repeated debt limit standoffs and last minute resolutions” and “a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years.” And, not House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who negotiated the debt ceiling agreement a few months back only to anger his right flank, such that they shut down operational control of the chamber, leaving the Speaker no choice but to send members home for a handful of days.
Yet, the Freedom Caucus has signaled more of the same is on the horizon. They’re using a September end-of-fiscal year deadline to try to extract new concessions from McCarthy and President Biden. The roots of this crisis reach back to the agreement McCarthy made with conservatives in April. Their pact allowed legislation to move forward and propelled the administration and congressional Democrats to negotiate a debt ceiling agreement. But the eventual deal came with a catch. The Gang of 21 now wants a “power-sharing agreement” with McCarthy.
The problem is, their demands are unrealistic. Republicans hold the tiniest of margins in the House and Democrats control the U.S. Senate and the White House. Yet, the Freedom Caucus is undeterred. They’re attempting to relitigate the debt ceiling deal through the annual appropriations process. But dialing back federal spending to FY 2022 levels is an impossibility given the 60-vote threshold for passage in the Senate. Yet, funding for programs and activities with which they disagree — even PEPFAR, the global AIDS prevention plan begun by President George W. Bush and which has saved 25 million lives since 2003 —is being threatened, held up or put on the chopping block. Getting these bills through the House is going to be a monumental task, if they’re even able to.
“We should not fear a government shutdown,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.). “Most of what we do is bad anyway. Most of what we do up here hurts the American people.”
Yikes! We need to yell “cut!”
House conservatives should follow the script of President Ronald Reagan, who worked with former Speaker Tip O’Neill (D-Mass.) to pass bipartisan budgets that led to economic growth. Or take a page from my old boss, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who worked with his ideological opposite, President Bill Clinton, to pass budgets that led to surpluses instead of chronic deficits.
Divided government will ensure that neither side in Washington gets everything they want.
What won’t get us there is holding government — and by extension, the American people — hostage to unrealistic demands. Gingrich learned that the hard way. One of the longest government shutdowns happened on his watch and he and his House Republican colleagues took the blame.
Now, some may argue that Hollywood writers and actors have gone on strike; why not politicians? In short, because the entertainment industry faces an existential threat. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can now do the writing, while computer-generated imagery (CGI) can manufacture actors. Thousands of careers are on the line.
While I’m all for taking a stand, putting ideas forward, and making the strongest case – for Hollywood, Washington or any other industry sector — we all know how a government shutdown will end. It’s never pretty and always hurtful.
With Congress returning post-Labor Day, leaders still have time to flip the script and show the American people, and the world, they can govern.
We live in a precarious time. Americans should be able to look to Congress for stability, not volatility.
Let’s bring down the curtain on “government shutdown theater.” It’s a box office loser.
Lauren Maddox is senior policy advisor at Holland & Knight.