Wednesday Morning Rant

No, not the debate. Between the live threads yesterday and the analysis that is sure to follow, I probably have little to contribute on that topic. But debates are not the only theatrics this season, or even this week. There is another grand show going on, partially (or even largely) overshadowed by the debate. It's an old show. It's a tired old franchise with yet another in an interminable series of sequels.

That show is called "The Budget." The Budget: Episode XXIV (or whatever number - it doesn't matter) is out of pre-production and the live show is currently underway. As usual, Congress has failed to pass a budget. As usual, it is pursuing a continuing resolution. As usual, the amounts of money involved are staggering. As usual, the deficits are deep and broad. As usual, there are soundbites and passionate speeches. As usual, there are hostages in the form of riders. As usual, there are phony carrots and phonier sticks.

This time, the big carrot is the "Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act," abbreviated as the "SAVE Act." SAVE is supposed to prevent illegal aliens from voting. Whether it would work or not is beside the point. Election integrity measures - regardless of efficacy or implementation potential - are important to large numbers of Americans. On paper, they're particularly important to the GOP. So of course, it is used as the prop in a game of "keep-away" in yet another pseudo-budget "showdown."

That's the gimmick, and that's the play this time 'round. "Dodge the budget yet again, vote for a huge CR yet again, deliver nothing on spending yet again, and we'll give you a rider about election integrity." It's the kind of deeply cynical play that defines this particular brand of theater. The Democrats will vote against it. The Republicans will vote for it. It will deadlock between the houses. The final negotiated deal - which will come at the 11th hour, just before a Dread Government Shutdown would happen - will involve virtually everything on the spending wish list and the SAVE act will will be either neutered or stripped entirely.

After the CR or the inevitable omnibus to follow, the Democrats will screech that the Republicans won because some particular program for some particular interest group didn't get funded, and the Republicans will screech that the Democrats won because the SAVE act had to be sacrificed to obtain a deal. The soundbites and passionate speeches will continue until Biden's auto-pen signs the "compromise deal" and the perennial "crisis" of a Dread Government Shutdown will have been avoided. The deficit will continue to skyrocket. Everybody except the American People will go home happy. The beltway will congratulate itself on keeping the wheels of state in motion.

This episode in the franchise, however, has had some great soundbites. The best so far have come from Thomas Massie (R-KY). He described it as "Groundhog Day" and called out that SAVE act is merely a "bright shiny object." He even calls the whole mess what it is: theater.

"We always get a CR in September and then we get an omnibus," he said, with the only real difference being that some years the latter comes before Christmas, and sometimes after.

This is political theater. We all know where it ends up. I've been here 12 years. I've seen it 12 times. I refuse to be a thespian in this failure theater.

But Massie's accurate description doesn't change what it is, and doesn't change how it will go. We're in Theater Season, and the stage is crowded.

posted by Joe Mannix at 11:00 AM

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