Republicans Blink on Shutdown

I called for Democrats to hang on against Republicans on Monday in .When Terrorists Take Hostages….  Republicans have been using the threat of a government shutdown to hold hostage the safety net needed my the least able Americans to survive.  I said that they would back down, because they remember that last time.  They haven’t backed down yet, but as Democrats stayed the course, Republicans blinked.

The prospect of an imminent federal government shutdown diminished Friday as House Republicans proposed a carefully calibrated stopgap measure that Democrats said could be acceptable.

Under the proposal, the law now keeping the government open would be extended two more weeks, until March 18, at the price of $4 billion in new spending cuts. In the interim, House and Senate leaders would try to negotiate a broader plan to finance the government at reduced levels through Sept. 30.

While the measure, which will be considered by the House and Senate next week, represents only a reprieve, it showed that both Republicans and Democrats were interested in easing the political tensions around the budget showdown.

As they adjust to the new power structure on Capitol Hill, both sides have said they hope to avoid an impasse that could shutter federal agencies. To make it harder for Democrats to object to the temporary plan, Republican architects of the proposal tried to make the cuts relatively painless.

They came up with the $4 billion by ending eight education, transportation and other programs that President Obama had previously sought to close down, a savings of almost $1.2 billion. They also reclaimed nearly $2.8 billion set aside for earmarks in the current budget; both the House and Senate have agreed to ban such pet projects… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

While this is, at best, a very small victory, it reinforces the need not to give in to Republican attempts to terrorize our neediest citizens.