Budget Deal Reached ? - We'll See Next Week

It looks like there may actually be a budget deal that will prevent the government from being shut-down. The Democrats had already compromised by agreeing to slash around $38 billion from the budget for the rest of this year. The only question was whether the Republicans would blink at the last minute and agree to the compromise -- and they did!

The Republicans had been demanding at least $61 billion in cuts -- far more than the Democrats were prepared to agree to. And their teabagger base was urging them to stand fast and shut-down the government unless the Democrats gave them everything they wanted. Through several days of negotiations, the Republicans finally came down on the cuts to the figure the Democrats had agreed to, but in an effort to save some face with their base they insisted on some riders to the funding bill.

These riders would cut money for the new health care law, ban the EPA's ability to enforce "global warming" regulations, and cut out all funds for Planned Parenthood. But one by one these all fell by the wayside until they were just left with the Planned Parenthood rider. And then right before the time ran out (midnight EST), the Republicans folded. They agreed to about $39 billion in cuts with NO riders attached. I must say I'm a bit surprised. I had thought the Republicans would refuse to compromise.

But it's not over yet. As of yet, they have only funded the government for a few days (and 70 members of the House voted against that -- 28 Republicans and 42 Democrats). The vote for the real funding bill won't come for a few days since they need time to write it. And who's to say it can get enough votes to pass once the members actually see what is cut and what is not cut. I also expect the Republicans will get an earful from their teabagger base (who will not be happy that they gave in). It will probably pass, but it should be an interesting vote.

I expect the Republicans figure they can make their base happy again with a couple of other fights coming up real soon. One is the budget for 2012 and the other is the raising of the debt ceiling (which must be done by the middle of May). In a way, the current budget bill (for the rest of this year) was just a warm-up for these two fights.

But Democrats can be buoyed by this fight. It was believed by many of us that the Republicans would not compromise (or blink, if you will), but they have. And if they did it once they'll do it again. All the Democrats need to do is hold their ground. This may not look like it (since they did agree to some substantial cuts), but this was a victory for Democrats. Now they need to build on it.