The policy agenda of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans is keeping Democrats up at night.
Literally.
If you snooze, you lose.
Or at least you might have missed the recent nocturnal front mounted by Democrats to oppose the GOP’s budget package.
It was the second overnight session in three weeks for the Senate.
While you were sleeping last Thursday night – drifting into Friday – Democrats hoped their resistance to the president wasn’t a legislative lullaby.
In the overnight Senate session, Democrats forced two dozen votes over nearly nine hours on every subject under the moon.
‘The right to IVF,’ was an amendment offered by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
‘Deficits and debt,’ came the proposal from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the top Democrat on the Budget Committee.
‘Public lands,’ was the focus for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
‘Deadly and devastating wildfires,’ caught the attention of Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
‘The cost of housing,’ was the issue for Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
‘Tax cuts,’ declared Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
‘The FAA,’ said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the leading Democrat on the Appropriations panel.
However, Republicans threw a shuteye shutout.
The GOP-controlled Senate rejected every Democratic proposal all night long.
Marathon voting sessions – often called ‘vote-a-ramas’ in the Senate – present an opportunity for the party out of power to engineer challenging votes for the other side. They like to put the majority on the spot with tough votes. Some amendments are even drafted with a specific senator in mind. Especially someone who might face a competitive bid for re-election in the next cycle.
Democrats tried to trip up Republicans with votes on tax cuts. They even compelled Republicans to weigh in on their support – or lack thereof – for Ukraine.
‘This amendment ensures continued support for the government of Ukraine to stand firm against Russian aggression. For three years, Ukraine has fought tooth and nail for its very survival heroically,’ said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
Reed’s plan scored a brushback from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss.
‘There’s no greater supporter of Ukraine in this Senate than I am. But this is not the right vehicle,’ argued Wicker on the floor at 12:34 a.m. ET Friday. ‘Passage of this amendment – though members might wish to – will make it harder to pass this very valuable budget.’
But it was lights out for Democrats as Republicans passed their budget framework just before dawn Friday.
The vote was 52-48. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone GOP nay.
‘We’re going to vote all night long to set up a bill to increase spending by $340 billion,’ argued Paul in a floor speech Thursday. ‘Senate Republicans are coming forward today to pass a budget to allow them to raise federal spending.’
Paul asserted that senators should vote on his amendment to cut spending rather than greenlight an outline to actually spend more on the military and border security. He also reminded his colleagues that the budget plan wasn’t binding. It was just an aspiration with no real money or spending reductions.
‘The talk of the savings is ephemeral. It isn’t real. Until Congress has the courage to vote on it, it has to be certified by a vote. If Congress doesn’t vote, it sort of wishes and washes around in the ether. And it may or may not wind up being savings,’ said Paul.
Democrats claimed they shined a spotlight on Republican political vulnerabilities via the overnight exercise.
‘One amendment at a time, Democrats exposed Republicans’ true colors here on the Senate floor,’ bragged Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
But in the middle of the night.
Did anyone see it?
Did anyone pay attention?
If a tree falls in the woods…
But now it’s up to the House to approve its plan. It tackles the same provisions which are in the Senate package. But it emphasizes tax cuts. It also has the support of Trump.
It will be hard to advance anything through the House.
‘If we don’t do our job, everyone’s taxes are going up. And so that is absolutely going to be catastrophic to the American people,’ said Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., on FOX Business.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House. It’s about the math. They can only lose a vote or two on any given day. And keep in mind that a key demand in this bill is to drive up military and border spending – but also reduce overall spending. Plus, renew tax cuts.
That’s why some skeptics say the only way is to tackle the entitlements. So-called ‘mandatory’ spending. This is spending that Congress doesn’t approve for each year. Based on laws passed years ago, the money for mandatory spending just floods out the door – based on what the government owes (such as interest on the debt) and who qualifies for particular entitlements. That’s why there’s a serious hunt for the triumvirate of ‘waste, fraud and abuse’ in federal spending. There simply isn’t enough money to trim from the ‘discretionary’ side of the ledger. That’s the money which Congress allocates on an annual basis to run the government. Mandatory spending dwarfs discretionary spending.
‘If we cut all of that, we still won’t balance the budget. We have a deficit of $2 trillion. We have got to touch our mandatory spending,’ said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., on FOX Business.
That’s why securing an agreement to advance the package through the House is so tough. And the House and Senate must both advance the same plan to use budget reconciliation to skip over the filibuster.
If the House adopts its plan, the House and Senate could then work to sync up. The chambers could try to merge their respective plans in what’s called a conference committee. The House and Senate then must vote again to approve a blended measure, called a ‘conference report.’ Then they can go to the actual bill. And the House and Senate must also approve the same version of that.
Or, the sides could get involved in what we call parliamentary ping-pong. The Senate has passed its resolution. So it pings it over to the House The House then OKs its version, and pongs that over to the Senate. They bounce the ball back and forth across the Capitol Dome until one body or the other finally accepts one measure – whichever one it is.
Only then can they get to the actual substance of the underlying bill.
Quite a process to achieve a solitary ‘big, beautiful bill’ the president is pushing.
This enterprise is far from over.
And there’s another problem around the corner:
A bill to avoid a government shutdown is due by March 14. That’s where the real dollars can be found. Real spending can conceivably either go up, down or stay the same in that bill. A problem with government funding could disrupt the goal of the ‘big, beautiful bill.’
So while the action overnight was important, this enterprise is far from over.
And while last Thursday night – bleeding into Friday – was a long night, it likely means there are dozens of other very long nights ahead over the next few months.